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IN  THE 

T  ir  crRnni ( 
LIL  oLnUUL 


LOWRY 


'*•  •:,!';:; 


GIFT   Of 
MICHAEL  REESE 


TEACHING  SEX  HYGIENE 

IN  THE 

PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 


CONFIDENCES,    Talks    with    a    Young    Girl 
Concerning  Herself.    50  cts. 

TRUTHS,  Talks  with  a  Boy  Concerning  Him- 
self.    50  cts. 

HERSELF,    Talks    with   Women   Concerning 
Themselves.    $1.00. 

HIMSELF,    Talks     with     Men     Concerning 
Themselves.     $1.00. 

FALSE  MODESTY.    50  cts. 
THE  HOME  NURSE.    $1.00. 

In  Preparation 

TEACHING  HEALTH  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 
A  Companion  Volume  to  this  Book. 


Teaching 
Sex  Hygiene 

in  the 

Public  Schools 


BY 

E.  B.  LOWRY,  M.D. 

Author  of 
"Herself,"  "Himself,"  etc 


Chicago 

Forbes  and  Company 
1914 


COPYRIGHT      1914,     BY 
FORBES  AND  COMPANY 


FOREWORD 

AT  the  recent  International  Congress  of 
School  Hygiene,  which  was  attended 
by  hundreds  of  teachers  and  others  engaged 
in  educational  work,  there  was  no  subject 
that  called  forth  more  interest  than  that  of 
sex  education.  By  all  present  this  was  felt 
to  be  the  most  critical  subject  of  the  day  in 
educational  circles. 

The  wave  of  awakening  to  social  evils 
which  had  passed  over  the  country  had  left  in 
its  wake  perplexing  and  baffling  problems. 
The  policy  of  silence  was  declared  to  have 
failed  disastrously.  Innocence  and  ignorance 
were  found  not  to  be  synonymous.  But  so 
long  had  false  modesty  prevailed  that  no  one 
felt  prepared  to  throw  much  light  upon  this 
hitherto  veiled  subject.  When,  where  and 
how  the  necessary  instruction  should  be 
given,  whether  it  was  the  duty  of  the  edu- 
cator to  try  to  introduce  it  into  the  schools, 


285745 


FOREWORD 

and,  if  so,  how,  were  the  questions  para- 
mount in  the  minds  of  many. 

Several  attempts  have  been  made  in  dif- 
ferent cities,  and  some  failures  due  to  over 
much  haste  have  been  reported,  so  that  there 
is  a  feeling  of  uncertainty  in  the  minds  of 
many.  Those  who  have  not  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  hearing  the  discussions  at  the  vari- 
ous conventions  are  seeking  information,  so 
it  seems  best  to  send  forth  this  little  volume 
simply  as  an  explanation  of  the  present 
status  of  the  question  as  related  to  the  pub- 
lic schools.  For  the  future  I  shall  be  glad 
to  hear  from  those  who  honestly  are  seek- 
ing information  or  who  from  their  experi- 
ence can  see  other  solutions  of  the  problem. 

EDITH  B.  LOWRY,  M.  D. 
St.  Charles,  III. 


CONTENTS  -_,^ 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Necessity    1 1 

II.  The  Method    17 

III.  The  Caution    25 

IV.  The  Greater  Work   31 

V.  The  Blindness  of  Parents 40 

VI.  The  Story  of  Life 48 

VII.  The  Girl 54 

VIII.  The  Boy 64 

IX.  The  Well  Directed  Childhood. .  78 

X.  The  Coworkers 88 


TEACHING  SEX  HYGIENE 

IN  THE 
PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   NECESSITY 

ERE  probably  is  no  subject  that  is 
J-  causing  more  controversy  in  towns  and 
cities  than  that  of  teaching  sex  hygiene  in 
the  public  schools.  Comparatively  recently 
we  were  deep  in  the  darkness  of  prudery 
which  said  that  this  and  kindred  subjects 
should  not  be  mentioned  except  in  whispers. 
It  was  considered  almost  sacrilegious  to 
mention  the  question  in  polite  society. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  the  public  suddenly 
was  awakened  from  its  lethargy  of  indif- 
ference to  a  realization  of  the  presence  of 
the  white  slave  trade.  About  the  same  time 

11 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

investigations  revealed  the  prevalence  of 
the  venereal  diseases  in  all  classes  of  society, 
they  revealed  the  cause  of  blindness  of  the 
new  born,  of  pain,  suffering  and  sterility 
among  good,  true  women.  When  all  these 
alarming  facts  became  known  educators 
generally  began  to  look  for  a  remedy  for 
this  horrible  condition  of  affairs.  The 
cause  was  found  in.  ignorance  due  to  false 
modesty  of  fathers  and  mothers;  the  most 
potent  remedy  was  announced  to  be  educa- 
tion. Education  of  boys  and  girls  so  that 
they  would  not  be  victims  of  ignorance  nor 
the  prey  of  the  unscrupulous  vultures  who 
profit  by  the  gullibility  and  weakness  of 
others. 

Then  the  question  came  as  to  how,  when 
and  by  whom  the  necessary  instruction 
should  be  given.  This  naturally  called  forth 
a  variety  of  opinions  which,  as  yet,  have 
not  been  settled  entirely  and  probably  will 
not  be  for  some  time  to  come. 

Undoubtedly  it  is  safe  to  say  that  every 
one  admitted  that  the  proper  persons  to 

12 


THE  NECESSITY 

give  this  instruction  were  the  fathers  and 
mothers,  that  it  should  be  given  in  the  pri- 
vacy of  the  home  and  at  such  opportune 
times  as  there  arose  a  question  in  the  mind 
of  the  child.  Such  a  course  would  presume 
that  the  parent  was  capable,  on  account  of 
previous  education,  of  giving  this  instruc- 
tion and  that  there  Was  a  bond  of  unity 
between  all  parents  and  their  daughters  and 
sons  which  would  invite  confidence  on  the 
part  of  the  child.  Just  here  was  the  great 
obstruction. 

The  women  of  the  country  generally  are 
divided  into  three  classes,  first, — those 
broad-minded,  well-informed  women  who 
are  capable  and  do  instruct  their  daughters 
and  sons  in  sex  hygiene ;  second, — those  who 
realize  the  need  of  such  instruction  but, 
due  to  their  own  lack  of  early  instruction, 
are  not  prepared  to  impart  it  to  their  chil- 
dren; and  third, — those  who  willfully  or 
ignorantly  close  their  eyes  to  the  ways  of 
the  world,  who  insist  upon  taking  the  world 
as  they  would  like  it — idealized — not  as  it 

13 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

really  exists  today,  who  insist  upon  hiding 
behind  a  mantle  of  prudery  and  looking 
through  a  glass  darkly. 

In  my  experience  the  second  is  the  largest 
of  these  classes.  Through  my  magazine 
and  other  work  I  have  received  letters  from 
hundreds  of  mothers  and  the  gist  of  nearly 
every  one  is,  "I  would  like  to  tell  my  child 
but  I  do  not  know  how.  I  am  so  woefully 
ignorant  on  this  subject  because  no  one  ever 
taught  me."  Then  from  other  women  and 
girls  who  realize  they  have  ruined  their 
chances  of  perfect  happiness,  there  is  the 
cry,  "Why  was  I  not  taught  these  things 
before  it  was  too  late?"  The  latter  show 
the  existence  of  the  third  class  of  mothers. 

So  the  question  resolves  itself  into  the 
seemingly  simple  one  of  teaching  mothers 
the  need  of  this  instruction  and  then  teach- 
ing them  how  to  give  it.  However,  this 
seemingly  simple  problem  is  one  of  the 
greatest  that  is  troubling  the  country  at  the 
present  day.  Mothers'  clubs  have  tried  to 
reach  mothers.  They  reach  some,  but  only 

14 


THE  NECESSITY 

a  very  small  proportion.  In  Chicago  and 
other  cities  the  plan  has  been  tried  of  at- 
tempting to  reach  the  parents  through  lec- 
tures given  in  the  schoolhouses  to  parents, 
but  for  some  reason  these  attempts  were  not 
always  a  success,  either  because  of  failure 
to  create  interest  in  the  lectures  or  to  impart 
them  in  a  fitting  manner. 

While  all  these  attempts  were  being  made 
we  became  convinced  of  the  fact  that  we 
were  missing  a  great  opportunity.  Every 
year  there  were  older  boys  and  girls  leaving 
the  public  schools  soon  to  take  up  their 
duties  as  future  fathers  and  mothers.  To- 
day we  have  an  opportunity  of  reaching 
these  boys  and  girls,  but  tomorrow  they 
might  be  so  widely  scattered  that  it  would 
take  several  years  to  accomplish  what  might 
be  done  now  in  a  few  months.  The  boys 
and  girls  who  are  graduating  from  schools 
this  year  are  the  mothers  and  fathers  of  the 
next  generation.  After  school  days  they 
scatter  to  the  four  winds.  If  we  could  reach 
every  boy  or  girl  who  left  the  schools  dur- 

15 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

ing  the  next  ten  years  we  would  have  in- 
structed the  great  majority  of  parents  of 
the  next  generation.  Where  could  we  ex- 
pect to  find  a  better  time,  place  or  oppor- 
tunity ? 


16 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  METHOD 

IN  every  normal  school  and  institution  of 
higher  education  there  should  be  intro- 
duced at  once  a  course  commencing  with  a 
study  of  eugenics  and  teaching  how  to 
improve  the  race  stock  of  our  country.  This 
naturally  would  lead  on  to  a  study  of  those 
factors  which  are  degrading  this  stock — 
the  intemperance  of  high  living,  the  social 
evil  and  its  accompanying  factor  of  ven- 
ereal diseases.  Then  would  be  seen  the 
duty  of  this  generation  to  the  next — the 
necessity  of  preparation  for  fatherhood  and 
motherhood  and,  naturally,  instruction  in 
the  sex  education  of  the  child. 

With  high  school  students  these  subjects 
naturally  cannot  be  entered  into  so  deeply, 
but  every  girl  in  the  high  school  should  have 
some  training  for  her  future  work  of 

17 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

motherhood.  The  introduction  of  domestic 
science  into  the  curriculum  of  the  public 
schools  is  one  of  the  great  milestones  of 
educational  advancement.  Correlated  with 
the  instruction  in  cooking,  sewing  and  the 
general  care  of  the  home  naturally  would 
come  the  care  of  those  very  important  mem- 
bers of  the  home — the  babies — and  each 
girl  could  be  taught  how  to  take  care  of  her 
own  health  so  that  she  might  be  properly 
prepared  for  motherhood.  The  boys  should 
be  given  instruction  along  similar  lines,  but 
probably  with  them  the  instruction  could 
well  be  given  by  the  director  of  physical 
education,  for  a  boy's  great  ambition  is 
strength  and  virility. 

In  the  upper  grades  these  subjects  could 
be  approached  in  a  similar  manner.  There 
is  something  absolutely  wrong  in  our  sys- 
tem of  education  when  a  large  proportion 
of  our  boys  and  girls  end  their  school  days 
in  the  grammar  rooms  and  go  out  to  take 
up  their  life  work  without  being  properly 
prepared  for  it.  The  public  schools,  as 

18 


THE  METHOD 

a  rule,  do  not  prepare  for  real  life.  When 
the  majority  of  boys  and  girls  leave  school 
they  float  about  for  a  time  like  rudderless 
ships,  for  they  never  have  been  started  on 
a  right  course.  There  has  been  too  much 
of  a  tendency  in  our  public  schools  to  give 
all  classes  the  same  school  studies  without 
any  thought  of  the  fitness  of  this  method  to 
their  daily  lives.  Too  frequently  the  work 
of  the  elementary  schools  is  outlined  only  as 
a  preparation  for  college  life.  But  we  know 
that  the  great  majority  never  enter  college, 
but  do  enter  business  without  proper  prep- 
aration. We  have  tried  to  make  our  chil- 
dren conform  to  the  idealized  course  of 
study  instead  of  having  the  curriculum  con- 
form to  the  needs  of  the  individuals. 

In  the  upper  grades  those  who  expect 
to  enter  high  school  and  college  should  be  in 
separate  classes  from  those  who  finish  their 
work  in  these  grades.  The  latter  should  be 
prepared  here  for  business  and  for  father- 
hood and  motherhood.  The  proper  method 
of  feeding  babies  is  more  important  for 

19 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

many  girls  to  know  than  the  names  of  the 
capitals  of  all  the  countries  in  the  world. 
The  keeping  of  household  accounts  is  the 
best  of  arithmetic  for  these  girls.  The  care 
of  their  own  bodies  and  a  respect  for  them- 
selves is  necessary  if  we  do  not  wish  to  see 
clerks  and  stenographers  painted  and  dressed 
as  the  demimonde.  By  improving  the  homes, 
we  improve  the  nation.  The  best  method 
of  improving  the  homes  is  to  train  the  com- 
ing generation  of  home-makers  in  those 
branches  of  science  and  art  that  particularly 
apply  to  the  homes.  If  the  homes  are  prop- 
erly managed  we  will  have  no  need  of 
prisons,  reformatories  or  insane  asylums. 

In  the  lower  grades  there  should  be  les- 
sons in  nature  study  in  which  the  great 
truths  of  eugenics  are  revealed  in  plant  and 
lower  animal  life.  With  this  foundation 
the  application  to  human  beings  can  be  made 
at  opportune  moments.  With  small  children 
it  must  necessarily  be  almost  individual  in- 
struction, given  as  the  time  and  opportunity 
demands,  but  the  teacher  must  be  ever 

20 


THE  METHOD 

watchful  for  such  opportunities  to  present 
these  truths. 

In  ungraded  and  rural  schools  the  instruc- 
tion could  be  given  in  a  manner  similar  to 
that  in  the  lower  grades.  The  special  in- 
struction must  necessarily  be  almost  indi- 
vidual. Here,  in  most  instances,  the  teacher 
has  a  much  better  chance  to  reach  the 
parents  than  do  the  teachers  of  the  city 
schools.  She  usually  is  acquainted  with 
the  parents  as  individuals  and  in  moments 
of  conversation  the  earnest  teacher  can 
drive  home  the  truths  to  the  parents  and 
impress  upon  them  their  duty  in  regard  to 
their  children.  The  teachers  in  the  rural 
localities  perhaps  have  a  better  opportunity 
to  become  pioneers  in  this  work  than  do 
their  sisters  in  the  larger  cities.  It  is  from 
the  country  that  the  brawn  of  our  nation 
comes  and  it  is  here  that  the  fountain  heads 
must  be  kept  pure. 

The  schools  in  several  respects  do  not 
correlate  with  real  life.  Even  the  subjects 
of  physiology  and  hygiene,  which  the  laws 

21 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

of  many  states  require  to  be  taught  a 
certain  number  of  hours  a  week  in  every 
room,  are  valueless  as  they  usually  are 
taught,  Quite  a  common  method  is  for 
the  teacher  or  one  of  the  pupils  to  read  a 
few  pages  from  some  text  book  on  hygiene, 
perhaps  some  charts  are  shown,  but  the 
practical  application  to  the  daily  life  of  the 
individual  is  lacking.  This  is  no  fault  of 
the  teacher,  for  she  never  was  taught  those 
applications.  She  is  as  ignorant  on  these 
subjects  as  the  pupil  she  is  required  to  in- 
struct. Teachers  should  have  as  much 
knowledge  of  the  care  of  children  as  do 
mothers,  for  during  six  hours  of  the  day 
they  must  take  the  place  of  mothers.  They 
must  be  prepared  to  meet  the  emergencies. 
I  remember  ^when  I  was  teaching  a  third 
grade,  a  boy  of  ten  or  eleven  wrote  an 
obscene  note  to  one  of  the  little  girls.  She 
brought  it  to  me,  but  I  was  not  prepared  to 
meet  the  occasion.  I  sent  the  boy  to  the 
man  principal,  but  he  also  was  unprepared, 
for  he  only  could  recommend  whipping  the 

22 


THE  METHOD 

boy.  With  my  later  knowledge  I  know 
that  we  both  missed  a  grand  opportunity  of 
starting  that  boy  on  a  right  course.  A  few 
moments  of  earnest  conversation  at  that 
time  might  have  changed  his  entire  life. 

The  most  important  thing  at  the  present 
time  is  to  introduce  this  great  question  of 
sex  hygiene  into  every  training  school  for 
teachers  so  that  they  may  be  prepared  to 
realize  and  to  meet  the  opportunities  for 
guiding  their  pupils. 

The  problem  of  sex  education  is  being 
met  by  the  New  York  City  and  other 
boards  of  education  by  giving  books  on  sex 
hygiene  to  their  teachers.  This  method 
provides  the  teachers  now  at  work  with  in- 
struction on  the  subject  which  was  not  of- 
fered in  the  course  when  they  attended  the 
normal  schools.  Regardless  of  the  question 
whether  sex  hygiene  should  be  taught  to  the 
entire  class,  every  teacher  should  be  pre- 
pared to  meet  individual  cases ;  for  there  is 
not  a  teacher  who  does  not  share  with  the 
mother  the  confidence  of  some  child. 

23 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

In  all  classes  in  school  there  should  be 
lessons  illustrating  the  value  of  achieve- 
ment. The  lives  of  manly  men  and  womanly 
women  should  be  exemplified.  A  personal 
study  of  each  child  is  needed  so  that  his 
individual  talents  may  become  known  and 
developed.  The  stock  man  who  raises  colts 
would  not  think  of  giving  the  same  train- 
ing to  a  race  horse  that  he  gives  to  a  heavy 
dray  team.  Certainly  children  should  be 
given  the  benefit  of  as  much  selection  of 
training. 

Dr.  F.  C.  Sharp  of  the  department  of 
philosophy  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin 
has  outlined  a  course  of  moral  instruction 
for  schools  that  might  well  be  used  by 
teachers  as  a  foundation  for  more  special 
work. 


24 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  CAUTION 

T  IMPORTUNATELY  there  ever  are 
^  many  of  shallow  wisdom  or  judgment 
who  rush  in  where  angels  fear  to  tread, 
or  who,  becoming  too  enthusiastic,  rush 
ahead  without  waiting  to  consider  the  re- 
sults of  their  course  of  action. 

We,  as  educators,  are  entering  a  new 
realm  where  all  has  been  darkness.  For 
a  short  time  we  have  been  throwing  our 
searchlight  of  investigation  here  and  there 
searching  out  hidden  and  valuable  truths, 
but  there  are  many  unexplored  and  untried 
regions.  We  can  walk  only  very  slowly 
along  the  path  we  have  explored,  for  our 
light  is  dim  and  throws  its  beams  only  a 
short  distance.  We  can  see  only  a  little 
way  in  advance.  If  we  try  to  run  or  hurry 

25 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

we    may    stumble    or    even    fall    over    a 
precipice. 

The  teaching  of  sex  hygiene  in  the  public 
schools  as  a  separate  subject  ever  will  be 
a  mistake!  To  introduce  it  correlated  with 
other  subjects  but  without  proper  intro- 
ductory work  or  without  adequate  prepara- 
tion of  the  teachers  would  be  one  of  the 
gravest  mistakes  of  the  age.  Instruction 
lightly  given  or  unaccompanied  with  the 
deeper  reverence  for  motherhood  and 
fatherhood,  or  love  of  home  and  children 
is  worse  than  useless.  It  only  would  call 
forth  vulgar  discussions  by  the  depraved. 
This  subject  is  like  nitro-glycerine  in  that 
it  must  be  handled  with  extreme  caution 
or  there  will  be  an  explosion  which  will 
wreck  all  the  good  intentions  of  the  most 
progressive.  No  educational  reform  can 
succeed  unless  it  has  the  approval  of  the 
majority  of  the  masses.  The  first  step  is  to 
educate  the  parents  to  the  necessity  of  the 
proposed  instruction  while  at  the  same  time 
the  teachers  are  being  prepared. 

26 


THE  CAUTION 

In  view  of  the  great  needs  of  the  hour 
and  also  remembering  the  national  habits 
of  haste,  it  becomes  necessary  to  sound  a 
note  of  warning.  The  hasty  should  look 
well  before  they  leap.  Be  sure  every  ad- 
vancing step  is  on  sound  ground.  It  is 
better  to  wait  a  year  or  so  than  to  make 
any  unstable  efforts.  Rome  was  not  built 
in  a  day,  neither  was  our  great  system  of 
public  education  formulated  in  a  month  or 
a  year.  We  cannot  make  any  radical  change 
in  a  few  months.  The  time  is  coming  when 
all  these  changes  are  going  to  take  place, 
but  first  the  way  must  be  prepared. 

In  no  other  place  is  there  the  opportunity 
to  reach  the  masses  that  there  is  in  the 
schools.  The  plan  of  making  the  school- 
houses  social  centers  for  the  neighborhood 
has  opened  a  new  democracy  which  prom- 
ises to  bring  a  more  speedy  solution  to 
many  insistent  civic  questions  than  any  other 
method  that  has  been  attempted.  Mothers, 
fathers,  teachers,  pupils,  men  and  women 
of  every  stage  have  entered  with  enthu- 

27 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

siasm  into  the  movement.  Every  member 
of  the  community  contributes  according  to 
his  talents  or  training.  The  very  persons 
who  up  to  the  time  of  throwing  open  the 
schools  for  social  centers  positively  refused 
to  attend  church  or  public  hall  lectures  are 
the  ones  most  eager  to  respond.  The 
schoolhouse  is  the  one  common  bridge  upon 
which  democracy  can  span  problematic  sit- 
uations most  comfortably  and  effectively, 
as  the  foreigner,  the  older  resident,  the 
poverty  stricken,  the  wealthy,  all  feel  that 
the  schoolhouse  belongs  to  them.  So  only 
here  can  our  great  educational  problems  be 
solved. 

"Mere  instruction  in  the  function  of 
sex,  even  when  presenting  the  facts  regard- 
ing the  physical  and  moral  suffering  which 
may  result,  is  not  sufficient  deterrent  from 
sexual  immorality.  Men  who  know  all 
about  the  ravages  of  gonorrhoea  and  syph- 
ilis, and  the  young  women  who  know  all 
about  the  danger  of  becoming  pregnant,  do 
not  hesitate  to  enter  illicit  relationships. 

28 


THE  CAUTION 

The  man  may  have  learned  that  it  is  pos- 
sible to  protect  himself  against  disease  by 
simple  local  medication,  and  the  woman  may 
have  learned  to  '  take  care  of  herself  '  ;  but 
whether  they  have  or  not,  when  the  impulse 
to  sexual  intercourse  seizes  them — essen- 
tially a  biologic  impulse,  inherent  in  every 
living  thing — too  often  they  yield.  The 
only  safeguard  is  strength  of  will  devel- 
oped by  years  of  true  education,  built  upon 
a  sound  character,  and  ennobled  by  an  ideal 
conception  of  the  beauty,  chivalry,  and  the 
responsibility  of  their  sex. 

"We  cannot  expect  the  school  to  build 
such  characters  alone.  The  greatest  source 
of  power  is  the  home;  but  the  school  can 
and  should  provide  the  essential  instruction 
and  supplement  it  with  the  inspiration  to 
clean  living.  Those  who  are  to  give  in- 
struction in  matters  of  sex  should  have 
more  than  technical  knowledge;  more  than 
the  ability  to  present  facts  intelligently  and 
with  force.  They  must  know  how  to 
idealize  the  subject,  lift  it  out  of  the  plane 

29 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

of  the  sordid  and  away  from  the  possibility 
of  vulgarity  and  smut,  and  show  that  it 
is  associated  with  the  nobility  and  beauty 
as  well  as  with  the  crass  realities  of  life. 

"  Tell  the  young  folks  the  truth.  It  will 
not  hurt  them  if  told  in  the  right  way. 
The  danger  lies  in  the  foul  suggestiveness 
to  which  they  are  exposed  everywhere  and 
against  which  the  best  bulwarks  are  knowl- 
edge and  character.  Both  of  these  should 
be  developed  in  the  school — and  out  of 
it." — (Clinical  Medicine.) 


30 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  GREATER  WORK 

SEX  instruction  alone  is  only  one  step 
in  the  moral  training  of  a  child.     In 
every  school  there  are  other   factors  that 
must  be  looked  after  if  we  wish  our  chil- 
dren to  have  the  best  training. 

The  lack  of  adequate  toilet  facilities,  es- 
pecially in  the  country  schools,  perhaps  has 
been  one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  the 
spread  of  immoral  practices  among  chil- 
dren. Public  toilets  where  children  of  both 
sexes  congregate  should  not  be  allowed. 
Habits  of  self -abuse  and  other  immoral 
practices  often  are  learned  in  the  public 
toilets.  In  schools  all  toilets  should  be 
strictly  sanitary  and  under  the  supervision 
of  the  teacher  or  other  adult.  The  super- 
vision of  the  toilets  and  playgrounds  should 

31 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

be  as  much  a  part  of  the  work  of  the 
school  as  the  hearing  of  lessons,  for  it  often 
is  the  "  lessons  not  learned  in  school "  that 
are  the  most  lasting. 

It  is  well  for  every  school  to  look  to  the 
morals  of  the  janitor,  for  in  many  cases 
boys  have  been  first  instructed  in  harmful 
habits  during  their  visits  to  the  janitor  in 
the  basement  of  the  schoolhouse. 

Unsupervised  playgrounds  and  other 
places  of  recreation  breed  immoral  practices. 
The  supervision  of  the  teacher  ends  when 
school  is  dismissed  and  the  conduct  of  the 
child  after  school  hours  rests  with  the  par- 
ents. Many  children  are  allowed  to  loiter 
on  their  way  to  and  from  school  and  the 
parents  do  not  concern  themselves  about 
their  whereabouts  so  long  as  they  appear 
at  home  at  meal  time.  This  should  not  be 
true.  The  parents  should  know  where  their 
children  are  at  every  hour  of  the  day.  If 
they  are  allowed  to  go  to  the  homes  of  their 
playmates,  the  parent  should  quietly  investi- 
gate to  find  out  what  are  the  surroundings 

32 


THE  GREATER  WORK 

of  the  homes  and  what  are  the  occupations 
of  the  children. 

At  noon  and  recess  hours  at  school,  su- 
pervision should  be  maintained  either  by 
the  teacher  or  by  some  other  adult.  On 
this  subject  one  woman  wrote  me  the  fol- 
lowing: "In  a  small  farming  community 
of  California  containing  about  forty  chil- 
dren of  school  age,  it  was  discovered  that 
immoral  practices  had  been  carried  on  for 
years  among  the  older  children.  One  little 
girl,  being  new  to  the  school  and  also  being 
in  the  habit  of  telling  her  mother  every- 
thing, repeated  some  of  the  sights  she  had 
seen  during  the  recess  and  noon  hours,  and 
also  some  of  the  conversation  she  had  heard 
among  the  children.  Investigation  later  re- 
vealed a  surprising  state  of  affairs/' 

Even  in  the  home  these  things  may  occur. 
One  girl  wrote  me,  "  My  mother  died  when 
I  was  a  babe  and  I  was  sent  out  among 
strangers.  While  away  from  home  and  be- 
fore I  was  six  years  old  a  young  fellow 
about  fifteen  years  of  age  possessed  me  and 

33 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

threatened  to  do  something  terrible  if  I 
told.  I  did  not  dare  tell.  Luckily  I  was 
taken  home  at  this  time  as  I  now  had  a 
step-mother.  But  still  more  horrible,  it  also 
happened  that  I  had  immoral  relations  with 
my  brother.  I  was  not  very  old  before  I 
understood  that  this  was  a  wrong  and  a 
shame  and  acted  accordingly.  My  parents 
never  mentioned  things  of  this  nature  to  me. 
How  much  better  it  would  have  been  if 
they  had  done  so  when  we  were  real  young. 
How  many  tUngs  were  spoken  of  by 
schoolmates  and  told  in  the  dirtiest  possible 
way  and  things  also  were  said  that  I  now 
know  were  entirely  wrong." 

These  instances  impress  us  very  strongly 
of  the  need  of  early  talks  with  young  chil- 
dren on  these  matters.  As  soon  as  they 
enter  school  at  the  age  of  six  and  even  be- 
fore this,  in  some  cases,  they  are  bound  to 
hear  these  things  from  their  playmates. 
Usually  the  information  is  thrust  upon  the 
child  in  a  very  vulgar  manner,  or  entirely 
wrong  impressions  are  given.  The  very 

34 


THE  GREATER  WORK 

secrecy  that  always  has  surrounded  these 
subjects  makes  them  an  object  of  interest 
to  children. 

The  trouble  with  the  mother  in  the  small 
community  is  that  she  judges  her  children 
by  her  own  past.  She,  perhaps,  had  an 
entirely  different  environment  from  that  of 
her  children  and  because  she  came  out  all 
right,  naturally  sees  no  use  in  bothering 
about  talking  to  her  girls.  "  They  will 
learn  these  things  soon  enough,"  she  says 
when  the  subject  is  mentioned.  That  they 
either  already  have  learned  them  or  may 
be  learning  them  in  a  manner  of  which  she 
would  be  the  last  to  approve,  she  does  not 
take  into  consideration.  An  attempt  to 
warn  such  a  mother  often  is  misunderstood 
by  her. 

A  boy  always  is  interested  in  sex  prob- 
lems. The  vulgar  delight  in  feeding  his 
fancy,  in  giving  him  exaggerated  ideas  of 
these  much  abused  subjects.  He  is  led  from 
one  step  to  another.  Often  many  of  the 
things  he  does  are  performed  in  a  spirit  of 

35 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

bravado,  simply  because  he  does  not  wish 
to  appear  "  green." 

From  one  of  the  reliable  magazines  comes 
this  information:  "Forty-one  families — 
'  nice  families  '  as  we  call  them — were  last 
May  thrown  into  consternation  and  humilia- 
tion by  being  privately  notified  by  the  head 
master  of  a  boys'  school  that  their  boys 
would  not  be  re-entered  for  another  term 
at  the  school.  'A  fearful  condition  of  im- 
morality/ wrote  the  head  master,  '  has  been 
unearthed  at  the  school,  and  in  order  to  set 
an  example  to  the  rest  of  the  boys,  every 
boy  concerned  will  be  denied  re-entrance 
to  this  school/  " 

No  school  is  immune  to  immoral  prac- 
tices, but  with  diligent  oversight  they  may 
be  quickly  suppressed.  The  teachers  must 
be  prepared  to  investigate  as  well  as  to  teach. 

That  the  physical  condition  of  a  child  has 
a  great  influence  upon  his  mental  ability  as 
well  as  his  moral  nature  cannot  be  denied, 
yet,  according  to  Dr.  Wood,  the  professor 
of  physical  education  in  Teachers'  College, 

36 


THE  GREATER  WORK 

Columbia  University,  seventy-five  per  cent 
of  the  children  attending  our  public  schools 
of  America  today,  that  is,  fifteen  millions 
of  them,  need  attention  for  physical  defects. 

The  object  of  education  is  to  fit  the  child 
for  its  place  in  life,  to  so  train  it  that  it  will 
be  able  to  fight  its  own  battles.  It  is  as  nec- 
essary that  every  child  should  be  in  a  good 
physical  condition  as  it  is  that  he  should 
be  developed  mentally,  yet  for  some  reason 
in  our  zeal  for  the  higher  education  we  have 
been  inclined  to  neglect  the  physical  side. 
As  long  as  children  are  not  actually  so  sick 
that  they  are  unable  to  leave  home  they 
are  considered  well  enough  to  attend  school. 

Modern  education  has  at  last  taken  up 
this  matter  of  physical  condition  of  the 
school  children  with  the  result  that  in  some 
of  the  more  progressive  schools  the  children 
finish  the  school  year  in  the  spring  in  bet- 
ter health  than  when  they  entered  in  the 
fall.  In  other  schools  that  cling  to  the  old- 
fashioned  methods  and  traditions,  spring 
finds  the  children  wan  and  weary  and  it 

37 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

takes  the  better  part  of  the  long  vacation 
of  summer  to  place  them  in  such  a  physical 
condition  that  they  will  be  able  to  return 
to  school  at  all. 

In  the  majority  of  small  towns  and  coun- 
try districts  the  value  of  a  trained  school 
physician  or  nurse  is  not  realized.  In  fact, 
they  are  looked  upon  with  eyes  of  suspicion, 
considered  an  unnecessary  extravagance. 
But  when  we  consider  that  practically  every 
child  in  school  is  handicapped  by  the  phys- 
ical disabilities  of  the  majority  we  may  con- 
sider that  a  teacher  who  understands  the 
education  and  development  of  the  physical 
body  is  as  necessary  as  one  who  under- 
stands the  development  and  training  of  the 
mind. 

It  will.. take  a  defective  child  much  longer 
to  complete  a  given  cm»rse  of  study  than  it 
will  a  perfectly  normal  child.  If  at  the  be- 
ginning of  a  child's  school  career  it  could  be 
placed  in  a  perfect  physical  condition,  it 
would  be  able  to  complete  its  course  in  less 
time  than  otherwise  and  the  community 

38 


THE  GREATER  WORK 

would  be  saved  the  expense  required  to  keep 
the  child  in  school  the  extra  time;  therefore, 
from  an  economical  standpoint  it  is  better 
to  attend  to  the  child's  physical  develop- 
ment. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  boy  without  a 
playground  is  like  the  man  without  a  job. 
It  is  the  boy  who  is  not  kept  busy  with  work 
or  wholesome  play  who  has  time  and  energy 
to  get  into  trouble.  By  keeping  the  boys 
busy  with  supervised  recreations  outside  of 
school  hours  we  will  prevent  many  of  the 
immoral  practices.  The  director  of  physical 
education  plays  an  important  role  in  the 
moral  welfare  of  a  child. 


39 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  BLINDNESS  OF  PARENTS 

1H\URING  the  past  few  years  the  public 
-*^  has  been  much  interested  in  the  prose- 
cution of  the  white  slave  investigation. 
Every  adult  person  had  a  more  or  less  defi- 
nite idea  that  there  were  in  existence 
immoral  houses.  But  the  majority  of 
women  had  no  idea  that  their  existence 
should  be  of  any  especial  interest  to  them. 
The  Hon.  Edwin  Sims,  U.  S.  District 
Attorney,  Chicago,  says:  "There  are  some 
things  so  far  removed  from  the  lives  of 
normal  decent  people  as  to  be  simply  un- 
believable by  them.  The  white  slave  trade 
of  today  is  one  of  these  incredible  things. 
The  calmest,  simplest  statements  of  its  facts 
are  almost  beyond  the  comprehension  of 
belief  of  men  /and  women  who  are  merci- 
fully spared  from  contact  with  the  dark 

40 


THE  BLINDNESS  OF  PARENTS 

and  hideous  secrets  of  the  *  under-world ' 
of  the  big  cities. 

"  Naturally,  wisely,  every  parent  who 
reads  this  statement  will  at  once  raise  the 
question :  '  What  excuse  is  there  for  the 
open  discussion  of  such  a  revolting  condi- 
tion of  things?  What  good  is  there  to  be 
served  by  flaunting  so  dark  and  disgusting 
a  subject  before  the  family  circle?'  Only 
one — and  that  is  a  reason  and  not  an  ex- 
cuse !  The  recent  examination  of  more  than 
two  hundred  '  white  slaves '  by  the  office 
of  the  United  States  district  attorney  at 
Chicago  has  brought  to  light  that  literally 
thousands  of  innocent  girls  from  the  coun- 
try districts  are  every  year  entrapped  into 
a  life  of  hopeless  slavery  and  degradation 
because  parents  in  the  country  do  not  un- 
derstand conditions  as  they  exist  and  how 
to  protect  their  daughters  from  the  '  white 
slave '  traders  who  have  reduced  the  art 
of  ruining  young  girls  to  a  national  and 
an  international  system.  I  sincerely  be- 
lieve that  nine-tenths  of  the  parents  of  these 

41 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

thousands  of  girls  who  every  year  are 
snatched  from  lives  of  decency  and  com- 
parative peace  and  dragged  under  the  slime 
of  existence  in  the  '  white  slave  world ' 
have  no  idea  that  there  is  a  trade  in  the 
ruin  of  girls  as  much  as  there  is  a  trade 
in  cattle  or  sheep  or  other  products  of  the 
farm. 

"  I  have  no  disposition  to  add  a  single 
word  to  what  will  open  the  eyes  of  the 
parents  to  the  fact  that  white  slavery  is 
an  existing  condition — a  system  of  girl 
hunting  that  is  national  and  international 
in  its  scope,  that  it  literally  consumes  thou- 
sands of  girls — clean,  innocent  girls — every 
year;  that  it  is  operated  with  a  cruelty,  a 
barbarism  that  gives  a  new  meaning  to  the 
word  fiend;  that  it  is  an  imminent  peril  to 
every  girl  in  the  country  who  has  a  desire 
to  get  into  the  city  and  taste  its  excitement 
and  pleasures ! " 

One  of  the  worst  obstacles  that  is  to  be 
overcome  in  the  work  of  protecting  innocent 
girls  and  restoring  to  useful  lives  those  who 

42 


THE  BLINDNESS  OF  PARENTS 

have  been  betrayed  is  the  blind  incredulity 
on  the  part  of  a  large  percentage  of  the 
public.  There  are  thousands  of  women  all 
over  the  country  who  know  as  little  about 
what  is  going  on  in  the  world  as  do  so  many 
children.  They  are  wonderfully  ignorant 
of  the  terrible  conditions  that  are  in  exist- 
ence all  around  them.  Of  course,  their 
blindness  to  these  awful  conditions  makes 
them  more  peaceful  and  contented  for  the 
time  being  than  they  possibly  could  be  if 
they  realized  the  temptations  and  perils 
that  are  lying  in  wait  for  their  daughters 
and  the  daughters  of  their  friends.  But 
this  peace  is  not  permanent  and  every  year 
thousands  of  mothers  are  rudely  awakened 
from  their  sleep  of  peace  to  find  that  while 
they  were  asleep  to  the  perils  of  the  world 
their  daughters  have  been  drawn  into  the 
whirlpool. 

This  awakening  of  such  parents  comes 
too  late  usually  to  do  any  good.  The 
recent  agitation  along  this  line  has  caused 
many  a  mother  to  exclaim,  "  how  terrible ! 

43 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

I  did  not  dream  that  such  a  condition  of 
affairs  could  exist  in  this  country." 

In  this  age  no  young  girl  is  beyond  temp- 
tation. She  needs  all  the  protection  pos- 
sible, and  in  order  to  protect  her  the  parents 
and  teachers  must  be  awake  to  the  dangers 
and  provided  with  the  best  means  of  protec- 
tion. One  of  the  things  hardest  to  make  hon- 
est and  trusting  parents  believe  is  that  there 
can  be  people  in  the  world  who  make  it  their 
business  to  lead  girls  into  a  life  of  shame. 
But  such  is  the  case  whether  we  believe  it 
or  not.  The  men  and  women  who  ply  this 
trade  lay  their  plans  more  carefully  and 
employ  more  artifices  than  can  be  conceived 
of  by  the  ordinary  parent.  The  wonder  is 
that  more  are  not  caught  in  their  net. 

Another  fact  which  the  public  finds  it 
hard  to  believe  is  that  the  girls  who  are 
lured  into  the  life  of  shame  find  it  impos- 
sible to  escape  from  such  a  life,  that  they 
are  prisoners  and  slaves  in  every  sense  of 
the  word. 

One  common  trick  of  these  slave  pro- 

44 


THE  BLINDNESS  OF  PARENTS 

curers  is  the  promise  of  a  good  position. 
Many  a  girl  has  left  school  and  gone  to  the 
cities  thinking  she  had  obtained  a  definite 
and  desirable  position.  Perhaps  she  was  to 
be  met  at  the  station  by  the  person  who  ob- 
tained the  position  for  her.  Too  late  she 
finds  her  position  is  in  a  house  of  ill-fame. 
So  common  has  this  trick  become  that  in 
every  large  city  there  are  organizations  of 
social  workers  who  offer  through  the 
churches  to  look  up  the  desirability  of  any 
position  which  has  been  obtained  by  a  girl 
so  that  should  it  prove  to  be  a  lure  of  the 
destroyer  she  could  be  warned  before  it  was 
too  late. 

Another  favorite  device  of  the  white 
slaver  for  landing  victims  is  the  runaway 
marriage  trick.  The  alleged  summer  re- 
sorts and  excursion  centers  which  are  so 
widely  advertised  as  Gretna  Greens  and  as 
places  where  the  usual  legal  and  official 
formalities  preliminary  to  respectable  mar- 
riage are  reduced  to  the  minimum  are  star 
recruiting  stations  for  the  white  slave 

45 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

traffic.  So  common  is  this  trick  that  a  wise 
mother  should  refuse  to  allow  her  daughter 
to  visit  one  of  these  places  or  to  go  on  one 
of  the  pleasure  excursions  unless  accom- 
panied by  some  older  member  of  the  family. 
Also,  every  mother  should  teach  her  daugh- 
ter that  any  man  who  proposed  such  a  mar- 
riage was  to  be  looked  upon  with  suspicion, 
and  should  not  be  trusted  for  an  instant. 

Then  there  is  the  restaurant  trick.  The 
girl  is  induced  to  go  to  what  she  thinks  is 
a  restaurant  and  then  perhaps  is  taken  into 
a  private  room  only  to  find  that  this  room 
leads  to  her  prison.  Girls  cannot  be  too 
suspicious  of  going  to  unknown  places  with 
comparative  strangers — either  men  or 
women. 

The  moving  picture  shows  furnish  to 
these  slavers  another  opportunity  of  mis- 
leading girls.  These  shows  naturally  attract 
children  and  very  young  girls.  Evidence 
has  been  procured  which  proves  that  many 
girls  owe  their  ruin  to  frequenting  them. 
As  an  instance  of  this,  three  girls  met  as 

46 


THE  BLINDNESS  OF  PARENTS 

many  young  men  at  a  moving  picture  show 
and  at  the  end  of  the  performance  were 
induced  to  leave  the  theatre  by  a  side  door 
which  was  found  to  open  into  an  adjoining 
building  and  all  passed  the  night  together. 

Massage  parlors  and  manicure  parlors, 
upon  investigation,  were  often  proved  to 
have  been  used  as  a  bait  for  these  vile  pro- 
curers. Many  of  these  places  were  found  to  be 
not  equipped  for  their  legitimate  work  but 
to  be  nothing  more  than  disorderly  houses. 

The  investigations  of  the  United  States 
courts  have  resulted  in  the  imprisonment  of 
many  of  these  panderers,  but  there  are 
many  more  still  unconvicted  and  the  dan- 
ger to  young  girls  is  ever  present.  The 
parents  cannot  be  too  watchful  in  their  pro- 
tection, and  to  be  watchful  they  must  be 
cognizant  of  the  dangers  and  of  the  methods 
in  use.  The  daughters  must  be  so  educated 
that  they  are  prepared  to  cope  with  the 
enemy.  Remember,  as  Browning  says,  "  Ig- 
norance is  not  innocence,  but  sin." 


47 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   STORY   OF   LIFE 

EVERY  teacher  must  need  be  a  mission- 
ary in  that  it  befalls  her  to  be  ready 
to  give  the  parents  the  answer  to  that  im- 
portant question  of  "  How  shall  I  give  this 
information?"  which  naturally  follows  the 
parent's  realization  of  his  or  her  duty  to 
the  child.  This  question  usually  is  ac- 
companied by  another,  "  When  is  the  best 
time?" 

The  answer  to  both  questions  must  de- 
pend upon  the  individual  case.  At  a  cer- 
tain age  a  baby  expresses  a  desire  for  some- 
thing to  bite.  Before  that  time  we  make 
no  effort  to  force  him  to  bite.  Later  he 
finds  he  can  help  himself  from  one  posi- 
tion to  another  by  creeping.  Then  in  a 
few  months  he  discovers  he  is  able  to  use  his 
feet  and  tries  to  walk.  We  do  not  try  to 
force  any  of  these  new  ideas  upon  him  but 

48 


THE  STORY  OF  LIFE 

simply  wait  patiently  until  he  expresses  a 
desire  to  acquire  some  new  knowledge,  then 
we  aid  him  and  guide  his  efforts. 

There  comes  a  time  in  the  life  of  every 
child  when  he  awakens  to  knowledge  of 
reproduction.  Then  is  the  time  to  give  the 
information.  Some  children  commence  to 
inquire  as  early  as  three  years.  At  such  an 
early  age  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  de- 
tails, as  a  very  little  information  suffices 
to  satisfy  the  child. 

Just  how  to  tell  the  truths  necessary  must 
vary  with  the  age  of  the  child.  It  is  im- 
portant to  remember  to  be  truthful  to  the 
child.  When  a  mother  tells  the  child  that 
the  stork  or  the  doctor  brings  the  baby, 
she  sets  a  seal  upon  untruth.  Some  day  he 
will  learn  that  his  mother  has  deceived  him 
and  that  behind  her  instruction  lies  an  ele- 
ment of  secrecy,  and  secrecy,  with  its  com- 
panion, curiosity,  is  the  cause  of  much  un- 
rest in  after  life.  The  child  gathers  the 
idea  that  there  must  be  something  shame- 
ful connected  with  the  birth  of  a  child 

49 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

or  his  mother  would  not  be  ashamed  to 
tell  him  the  truth. 

Secondly,  the  child  must  be  told  scientific- 
ally, thereby  making  this  knowledge  a  basis 
for  later  studies  in  biology.  He  can  be 
taught  in  a  simple  manner  that  all  nature 
comes  from  a  seed ;  that  the  mother  makes 
a  tiny  nest  for  the  seed  and  that  with  all 
seeds  it  is  necessary  for  their  growth  that 
the  father  give  them  some  pollen. 

Until  these  subjects  are  put  before  chil- 
dren and  young  people  with  some  degree  of 
intelligence  and  sympathetic  handling,  it 
cannot  be  expected  that  anything  but  the 
utmost  confusion  in  mind  and  in  morals 
should  reign  in  matters  of  sex.  It  seems 
incredible  that  our  thoughts  could  be  so  un- 
clean that  we  find  it  impossible  to  give  to 
our  children  the  information  they  need  on 
these  most  sacred  subjects,  but  instead  we 
allow  them  to  obtain  their  information 
whenever  and  wherever  they  can  and  in  the 
most  unclean  manner.  A  child  at  the  age 
of  puberty  is  capable  of  the  most  sensitive, 

50 


THE  STORY  OF  LIFE 

affectional  and  serene  appreciation  of  what 
sex  means  and  can  absorb  the  teachings  if 
properly  given  without  any  shock  to  his 
sense  of  the  fitness  of  things.  Indeed, 
whenever  these  subjects  are  taught  to  the 
child  correctly  they  induce  a  feeling  of  rev- 
erence for  the  mother  that  could  not  other- 
wise be  obtained.  A  little  child  when  told 
that  she  grew  in  a  nest  in  mother's  body 
right  underneath  mother's  heart  at  once  be- 
comes filled  with  a  great  love  and  wonder 
for  that  mother.  Then  later  to  teach  the 
relation  of  fatherhood  and  how  the  love 
of  parents  for  each  other  and  their  desire 
to  have  a  child  of  their  very  own  was  the 
reason  for  that  child's  existence — these 
things  seem  so  natural  to  the  child's  mind 
that  has  not  been  polluted  with  vulgar  ideas 
that  they  excite  in  him  no  sense  of  unfitness, 
only  a  deep  gratitude  and  a  kind  of  tender 
wonderment. 

The  great  point  to  remember  in  teaching 
these  things  to  children  is  to  satisfy  their 
present  question  and  leave  the  understand- 

51 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

ing  that  mother  (or  father)  will  always  be 
ready  and  willing  to  explain  any  problems 
that  are  bothering  the  child. 

So  many  girls  have  told  me  that  when 
they  were  between  six  and  fourteen  years 
of  age  they  had  heard  some  things  about  the 
nest  where  the  babies  grow  and  immedi- 
ately went  to  their  mothers  and  inquired 
as  to  the  truth  of  what  they  had  heard. 
The  invariable  answer  received  was,  "  Little 
girls  must  not  talk  about  such  things."  That 
silenced  the  child  and  the  mother  heaved  a 
sigh  of  relief  that  the  question  had  passed 
off  so  smoothly  and  easily.  That  little  sen- 
tence has  been  the  cause  of  innumerable 
mistakes  and  misery.  That  little  sentence 
marked  the  beginning  of  the  failure  of  the 
child  to  confide  in  her  mother,  the  child 
never  again  would  broach  the  subject  to 
her  mother.  However,  that  did  not  mean 
that  the  child  would  not  receive  the  infor- 
mation requested;  for,  as  a  rule,  the  girls 
who  told  of  this  incident  also  remarked  that 
they  had  received  the  information  very  soon 

52 


THE  STORY  OF  LIFE 

from  some  older  girl  and  frequently  in  a 
vulgar  manner.  If  a  mother  wishes  to  re- 
tain the  confidence  of  her  daughter,  if  a 
father  wishes  to  retain  the  confidence  of  his 
son,  they  both  must  keep  a  keen  lookout  for 
the  first  questions  and  be  prepared  to  answer 
them  at  the  time. 

Later  on  the  special  sexual  needs  of  the 
boy  or  the  girl  can  be  explained,  the  neces- 
sity of  cleanliness  and  the  danger  of  self- 
abuse.  The  need  of  self-control  and  the 
possibility  of  deflecting  physical  desire  to 
other  channels  and  the  great  gain  resulting ; 
all  these  things  the  youth  of  either  sex  are 
capable  of  understanding  and  appreciating, 
and  the  knowledge  given  early  will  prevent 
many  physical  and  moral  wrecks. 

Parent-teacher  associations  are  of  great 
value  in  bringing  the  work  of  the  home  and 
of  the  school  into  harmony.  Here  the  real 
mothers  and  the  universal  mothers — the 
teachers — can  plan  together  how  best  to  de- 
velop the  child  physically,  mentally  and 
morally. 

S3 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  GIRL 

GIRLS  who  have  not  been  properly  in- 
structed do  not  realize  what  kind  of 
an  impression  they  make  upon  men  by 
their  clothes,  actions  and  habits,  and  un- 
thinkingly expose  themselves  to  misunder- 
standing. An  eminent  lawyer  said  to 
me  recently,  "  Why  do  you  not  tell  girls 
what  real  men  think  of  them  when 
they  appear  on  the  streets  with  painted 
faces,  peek-a-boo  waists  and  thin,  silk  hose 
worn  with  shoes  more  appropriate  for  the 
ball  room?  If  girls  imitate  the  demimonde 
in  their  dress  they  must  expect  to  be  treated 
accordingly."  There  is  in  every  girl's  na- 
ture a  desire  to  appear  attractive  in  the  eyes 
of  those  of  the  opposite  sex  and  this  desire 
leads  to  extremes  of  dressing.  These  ex- 

54 


THE  GIRL 

tremes  of  dressing  naturally  attract  the 
attention  of  men,  and  the  girl  feels  flattered 
and  continues  her  course,  not  realizing 
what  impression  » the  men  really  obtain. 
Then,  when  the  man  makes  the  advances 
that  her  manner  of  dressing  has  led  him  to 
believe  he  can  make,  she  is  very  much  in- 
sulted and  resentful.  The  fault  lies  in  the 
fact  that  the  girl  has  not  been  properly  edu- 
cated and  has  received  exaggerated  and 
entirely  wrong  ideas  of  life. 

In  every  normal  girl's  heart  there  is  an 
inborn  love  of  the  beautiful  and  a  desire  to 
make  herself  attractive.  This  may  mani- 
fest itself  in  various  ways,  according  to  the 
environment  and  culture  of  the  individual. 
In  mere  babies  we  see  a  tendency  to  deco- 
rate with  flowers  and  ribbons.  How  much 
pride  the  small  girl  takes  in  her  new  dress, 
her  new  shoes  or  new  hat!  As  the  girl 
grows  older  and  enters  the  business  world, 
her  love  for  the  beautiful  is  encouraged  by 
her  companions.  She  makes  a  struggle  to 
have  as  pretty  clothes  and  as  many  rings 

55 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

as  her  girl  friends.  If  she  is  in  moderate 
circumstances,  or  is  dependent  upon  her 
own  efforts  and  must  buy  not  only  the 
luxuries  but  also  the  necessities  of  life  with 
her  pitifully  small  wages,  she  sometimes  is 
tempted  to  sacrifice  health  and  comfort  to 
have  style. 

Instead  of  comfortable  shoes  with  thick 
soles  that  would  protect  her  feet  from  the 
wet  and  the  heat  of  the  pavements,  she  buys 
high-heeled,  thin-soled  shoes  not  suited  to 
the  shape  of  her  feet.  They  crowd  her  toes, 
throw  the  foot  out  of  shape  and  produce 
corns  and  bunions,  causing  the  wearer  to 
hobble  home  every  night  to  nurse  her  poor, 
tired,  aching  feet. 

She  oftentimes  goes  without  lunches,  and 
sometimes  without  a  good  nourishing  din- 
ner that  she  may  buy  some  fancy  collar, 
tie  or  belt.  Sometimes,  the  struggle  is  too 
much  for  her  and  her  health  breaks  down, 
or  is  so  injured  that  the  way  is  paved  for 
tuberculosis  or  other  diseases. 

Ofttimes  in  the  midst  of  her  troubles, 

56 


THE  GIRL 

when  she  is  quite  discouraged  with  the 
never-ending  struggle  to  make  both  ends 
meet,  there  comes  into  her  life  some  older 
girl,  more  experienced  in  the  ways  of  the 
world,  a  woman  whom  our  young  girl  has 
admired  because  she  always  is  dressed  in 
the  latest  and  most  extreme  styles,  always 
has  plenty  of  admiration  and  invitations  to 
dances,  theaters  and  other  places  of  amuse- 
ment. This  woman  tells  her  of  an  easy 
way  to  obtain  the  things  her  heart  desires. 
Not  realizing  the  dangers,  she  follows  the 
wicked  advice  of  her  friend.  Sometimes 
she  escapes  with  a  few  bruises,  but  many  a 
girl  carries  the  scars  through  life.  She  may 
take  precautions  to  avoid  the  natural  results 
of  her  acts,  but  she  seldom  dreams  of  the 
risks  she  is  running  of  contagion  from  one 
of  the  black  plagues.  It  is  not  uncommon 
for  physicians  to  be  called  upon  to  treat 
these  diseases  in  young  girls. 

Of  course,  these  things  are  more  common 
in  the  cities  than  in  the  country  districts, 
but  the  country  places  are  not  immune.  Rare 

57 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

is  it  to  find  a  country  village  that  has  not 
been  invaded  by  the  summer  boarders  or 
other  travelers,  bringing  with  them  city 
ideas  and  modern  laxity  of  morals.  Every 
railroad  improvement  has  brought  the 
country  and  city  closer  together.  The  coun- 
try young  people  think  nothing  of  running 
into  the  city  to  do  their  shopping,  and  be- 
sides doing  their  shopping,  they  absorb  and 
bring  home  with  them  city  ideas. 

The  country  girl  may  go  through  life  to 
the  altar  with  nothing  to  hide  and  nothing 
to  regret  if  she  has  not  encountered  wrong 
companions  nor  inherited  traits  of  reckless- 
ness. But  the  country  girl  going  to  the  city 
to  work  is  in  great  danger.  Unless  she  is 
possessed  of  unusual  independence  and  com- 
mon sense,  she  soon  is  tempted  to  copy  the 
dress  and  manners  of  the  smart  set.  She 
attends  questionable  places  of  amusement — 
cheap  imitations  of  the  more  expensive 
resorts.  She  goes  in  the  company  of  young 
men  who  make  a  good  appearance,  who  are 
regarded  as  good  "  dressers."  She  does 

58 


THE  GIRL 

this  without  any  regard  to  their  reputation, 
believing  that  she  is  capable  of  taking  care 
of  herself.  How  often  later  events  prove 
she  is  not ! 

In  pioneer  times,  the  girl  stayed  at  home 
and  helped  with  the  household  tasks.  She 
carded  and  spun  the  wool  into  yarn,  wove 
the  cloth  and  then  fashioned  it  into  various 
garments.  In  the  summer  time  she  canned 
and  dried  the  fruits  and  vegetables  for  the 
winter's  use.  The  weekly  task  of  baking 
for  a  large  family  was  mare  than  one 
woman  could  accomplish  unaided.  The 
families  were  large  and  their  needs  many, 
so  until  a  girl  married  and  went  to  a  home 
of  her  own,  she  was  needed  to  help  her 
mother.  Hers  was  a  busy  life,  but  it  was 
not  all  work  and  no  play.  During  the  win- 
ter there  were  the  singing  school,  the  husk- 
ing bee,  and  the  various  dances.  But  all 
these  usually  were  attended  by  the  whole 
family,  and  often  several  families  went  in 
one  big  sleigh.  Seldom  did  she  encounter 
any  men  except  under  the  protection  of  the 

59 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

home  roof.     Hers  was  the  protected  home 
life. 

Times  have  changed  since  then.  With  all 
the  modern  inventions  that  have  displaced 
the  home  work,  the  girl  is  not  so  much 
needed  at  home  in  the  household  duties. 
Where  formerly  her  help  was  required  in 
weaving,  sewing,  spinning,  cooking  and 
canning,  now  these  things  nearly  all  are 
done  in  factories  and  offices.  Besides,  her 
earnings  often  are  required  to  help  out  the 
family  income.  With  all  the  changes  in 
her  work  and  environment,  there  has  not 
been  the  change  in  her  education  and  prepa- 
ration. In  the  protected  home  life  of  our 
ancestors,  ignorance  might  have  been  re- 
garded as  innocence.  But  things  are  dif- 
ferent now.  The  opportunities  for  the  mis- 
leading of  young  girls  are  becoming  more 
plentiful  every  day.  The  temptations  come 
to  her  dressed  in  such  alluring  clothes  that 
she  does  not  see  the  lurking  danger.  A 
child  attracted  by  the  pretty  flower  of  the 
thistle  has  no  way  of  knowing  of  the  thorns 

60 


THE  GIRL 

underneath  unless  it  has  been  taught  by 
some  one  older  and  more  experienced. 

Sin  is  nothing  but  a  mistake,  and  it  pro- 
ceeds from  ignorance!  For  instance,  if  I 
do  not  know  that  fire  burns,  I  may  put  my 
finger  into  it  and  get  burned.  The  result  of 
this  mistake  is  the  burning  of  the  finger, 
and  this  has  taught  me  once  for  all  that  fire 
burns.  I  never  again  shall  put  my  finger 
into  the  fire!  So  every  mistake  is  a  great 
teacher  in  the  long  run.  No  one  is  born  so 
perfect  as  not  to  commit  any  mistake  or 
any  sin.  The  girl  of  the  present  age  must 
be  prepared  to  meet  the  temptations  thrown 
about  her. 

Everything  pertaining  to  the  origin  of 
life,  the  relationship  of  the  sexes  and  the 
sacredness  of  such  matters  should  be  deli- 
cately taught  the  growing  girl  by  her  mother 
or  some  one  competent  to  speak  of  such 
things. 

The  existing  conditions  of  the  present  age 
should  be  explained  to  her  in  such  a  way 
that  while  she  retains  her  belief  and  faith 

61 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

in  good,  clean-minded  men,  she  still  will  be 
prepared  to  cope  with  those  who  are  not  so 
clean-minded  and  learn  to  distrust  those 
who  are  not  willing  that  the  daylight  should 
shine  upon  their  actions.  Such  knowledge 
is  the  best  protection  a  girl  entering  the 
business  world  could  have,  and  to  allow  her 
to  go  without  it  is  a  crime.  If  the  girl  falls 
because  of  ignorance,  the  parents  are  to 
blame. 

"Why  was  I  not  taught  these  things?" 
is  the  cry  of  many  an  unfortunate  girl. 

"  But  I  know  so  little  about  these  things 
myself,  how  can  I  explain  them  to  my 
child  ?  "  says  one  mother. 

It  is  time  for  the  mothers  to  commence  to 
study. 

When  a  mother  is  entrusted  with  a  daugh- 
ter she  takes  upon  herself  a  duty — a  duty 
she  must  perform.  If  she  was  brought 
up  in  ignorance  and  suffered  through  her 
mistakes,  she  should  safeguard  her  daugh- 
ter against  the  same  misfortune. 

The  universal  motherhood  of  teachers  has 

62 


THE  GIRL 

a  glorious  opportunity  of  preparing  the  com- 
ing generation  for  future  motherhood  and 
fatherhood. 

Every  mother  should  talk  freely  with  her 
young  daughter.  Enter  into  her  life.  She 
should  try  to  remember  her  own  tastes  and 
thoughts  at  her  daughter's  age ;  become  her 
chum  and  not  her  dictator.  The  reward 
will  be  the  joy  of  confidence  and  satisfac- 
tion of,  "  Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful 
servant,  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few 
things,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  "  of  knowing 
you  are  saving  your  daughter.  Why  do  we 
condemn  the  unfortunate  girl,  who,  per- 
haps, has  made  only  one  misstep,  and  that 
through  ignorance  or  misplaced  confidence  ? 
She  did  no  worse  than  many  of  her  com- 
panions, but  they  were  more  worldly  wise 
than  she! 

"  He  that  is  without  sin  among  you,  let 
him  first  cast  a  stone  at  her." 


63 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  BOY 

TTVURING  the  course  of  his  life,  the  boy 
-•^  passes  through  a  great  many  stages  in 
which  his  ideals  change  greatly,  and  the 
things  that  most  appeal  to  him  and  interest 
him  change  also.  But  it  is  a  noticeable  fact 
that  it  always  is  something  heroic  or  manly 
that  is  raised  as  the  goal  of  his  ambition. 
As  a  small  boy,  the  friendly  policeman  usu- 
ally represents  his  ideal,  showing  thus  early 
his  respect  for  law  and  order.  At  this  age, 
his  greatest  ambition  is  to  be  a  policeman 
and  wear  a  uniform. 

At  another  stage  of  his  life,  when  he  has 
been  hearing  stories  of  the  bravery,  courage 
and  strength  of  the  American  Indian,  he  is 
filled  with  the  desire  to  run  away  and  join 
some  roving  band,  don  their  costumes  and 
participate  in  their  deeds  of  valor.  To  him 

64 


THE  BOY 

the  quiet  home  life  seems  very  "  tame  "  and 
hardly  worth  while. 

Even  the  youngest  boy  in  school  can  be 
appealed  to  through  stories  of  knights.  The 
kindergarten  story  of  "Cedric"  has  made 
the  days  much  easier  for  many  a  primary 
teacher.  With  Cedric  as  an  ideal,  it  is  easy 
to  bring  about  improvements  in  the  boy's 
everyday  life;  for  if  he  would  grow  to  be 
like  Cedric,  he  must  do  the  things  that 
Cedric  did. 

A  few  years  later,  when  the  boy  may  have 
been  reading  stories  of  the  great  campaigns 
of  the  Civil  or  Revolutionary  Wars,  the 
growing  boy  is  fired  with  the  ambition  to 
become  like  one  of  these  heroes,  perhaps 
even  to  become  a  great  general.  A  deep 
impression  is  made  upon  him  and  for 
months,  it  may  be  years,  he  lives  in  a  world 
of  camps  and  campaigns,  of  bivouacs  and 
battles.  He  plans  for  the  time  when  he  may 
go  to  West  Point.  His  everyday  life,  even, 
is  planned  to  prepare  him  for  that  glorious 
time.  He  drills  his  younger  comrades  in 

65 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

the  technic  of  warfare,  but  teaching  them 
above  all  to  obey  their  captain  quickly,  cor- 
rectly and  without  question. 

All  through  his  childhood,  everything 
that  is  manly  appeals  to  him.  Among  his 
acquaintances  usually  is  some  man  who 
represents  to  him  his  ideal  of  manhood,  and 
whom  he  consciously  or  unconsciously  tries 
to  imitate.  Unfortunately,  however,  he  has 
not  arrived  at  an  age  at  which  he  is  able 
to  distinguish  just  what  qualities  make  the 
man  and  he  is  liable  to  imitate  some  of  the 
man's  faults,  thinking  they  are  virtues.  In 
this  way  the  boy,  noticing  that  many  men 
smoke,  thinks  that  smoking  must  be  one  of 
the  necessary  attributes  of  manhood  and  so 
he  tries  to  do  likewise,  counting  as  nothing 
the  hours  of  misery  that  must  be  endured 
before  he  has  acquired  the  desired  habit. 

If  the  boy  during  his  stage  of  hero  wor- 
ship encountered  only  good,  clean-minded 
men,  who  inspired  him  with  real  manly 
traits,  all  our  social  problems  would  be 
solved  during  the  next  generation  with  very 

66 


THE  BOY 

little  effort.  Unfortunately,  the  boy  in  his 
progress  through  life  is  thrown  with  a  great 
many  misanthropes  who  teach  him  harmful 
practices. 

The  boy  in  the  city  encounters  many 
whose  chief  delight  seems  to  be  in  poisoning 
his  young  mind,  while  the  country  boy,  per- 
haps during  his  hour  of  rest  in  the  shade  at 
noonday,  listens  with  wide-open  ears  to  the 
questionable  stories  by  the  hired  man.  He 
is  told  of  the  many  things  a  man  is  priv- 
ileged to  do;  he  often  is  the  listener  to  many 
despicable  stories  about  women  and  girls, 
stories  that  give  him  a  wrong  idea  of  the 
relations  of  the  sexes,  that  cause  him  to 
believe  that  there  are  certain  practices  that 
are  his  privilege  by  right  of  sex  and  which 
he  must  exercise  if  he  would  be  a  man.  His 
imagination  is  so  filled  with  these  unwhole- 
some stories  that  he  is  unable  to  see  the 
fallacy  of  their  theories.  He  does  not  stop 
to  question  why  it  is  that  these  same  men 
are  weak,  shiftless  and  unsuccessful,  while 
his  father  and  other  clean-minded  men  are 

67 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

great,  strong  men  who  do  things  in  the 
world. 

We  talk  about  the  privileges  of  mother- 
hood, of  the  mother's  responsibility  in  shap- 
ing the  future  of  her  children,  but  it  seems 
to  me  that  the  fathers  have  as  great  a  priv- 
ilege and  as  great  a  responsibility  in  the 
training  of  their  sons  and  inculcating  in 
their  young  minds  right  ideas  of  the  priv- 
ileges and  responsibilities  of  manhood.  In 
the  growing  youth's  mind  there  arise  many 
questions  that  he  would  like  to  talk  over 
with  his  father,  but  he  feels  diffident  about 
asking  him.  Too  often  the  boy  grows  up 
and  goes  away  to  college  without  ever  talk- 
ing with  his  father  about  manhood. 

Many  parents  do  not  speak  freely  with 
their  children  on  matters  of  development. 
In  all  matters  concerning  his  business  rela- 
tions and  success,  the  boy  has  received  care- 
ful instruction.  He  has  not  been  left  to 
work  out  those  problems  by  himself  but  is 
given  the  benefit  of  the  experiences  of  those 
who  have  trodden  the  road  before.  But  in 

68 


THE  BOY 

this  matter  so  vital  to  his  whole  life,  he  has 
been  left  to  clear  his  own  path  through  the 
woods.  With  no  guide  and  bewildered  with 
the  new  ideas  and  experiences  that  crowd 
upon  him,  is  it  any  wonder  that  he  loses  his 
way,  wanders  off  the  straight  path,  falls  oft- 
times  into  some  bog  that  perhaps  was  hid- 
den from  his  sight  by  the  surrounding 
flowers  and  to  which  he  has  been  lured  by 
siren  music?  A  most  unusual  boy,  indeed, 
would  he  be  if  he  did  not  encounter  bram- 
bles or  mudholes.  Fortunate  is  he  if  he 
eventually  climbs  back  to  the  road  again 
with  no  deep  scars  to  mar  his  future.  Who 
is  to  blame  for  the  many  falls  of  youth? 
Surely  not  the  boy,  for  he  was  not  capable 
of  seeing  the  hidden  dangers.  Is  it  neces- 
sary for  every  boy  to  sow  his  wild  oats, 
seeds  of  which  always  may  be  intruding 
upon  his  happiness  ?  Could  he  not  be  wisely 
and  gently  taught  by  his  father  that  he 
might  avoid  the  pitfalls  which  cause  him  so 
many  regrets  in  later  years? 

Hero  stories  may  be  made  the  basis  of 

69 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

much  valuable  instruction  in  schools.  All 
through  the  ages  we  find  examples  of  whole- 
some men  who  lived  clean  lives,  keeping 
their  bodies  strong  and  healthful  and  con- 
serving their  energies  that  they  might  be 
used  in  doing  noble  deeds.  Men  who  wasted 
their  energies  in  their  youth  by  riotous 
living  might,  indeed,  for  a  few  years,  seem 
to  be  achieving  great  success,  but  before 
long  the  dissipations  told  on  their  systems 
and  they  were  unable  to  continue.  Could 
we  know  the  secret  history  of  many  brilliant 
men  who  shone  for  a  time  as  stars  of  the 
first  magnitude,  but,  like  the  comet,  enjoyed 
only  a  brief  appearance,  we  would  find  the 
cause  of  their  setting  lies  in  some  of  the 
mistakes  of  youth.  Why  is  it  so  many 
brilliant  men  are  nipped  off  in  the  very  be- 
ginning of  their  careers  by  paralysis  or 
some  other  disease  of  obscure  origin?  No 
one  but  the  man  himself  or  the  old  family 
physician  would  be  able  to  answer  such  a 
question. 

The  prevalent  idea  common  among  men 

70 


THE  BOY 

that  the  most  common  of  the  black  plagues, 
gonorrhoea,  is  no  worse  than  a  cold  is  to 
be  deplored.  Recent  medical  knowledge  has 
brought  to  light  the  fact  that  it  persists  in 
the  deeper  structures  long  after  it  appar- 
ently has  been  cured  and  may  reappear  at 
any  time  after  an  unusual  strain.  As  a 
result,  many  wives  are  thus  unwittingly 
infected  by  their  husbands,  and  many  homes 
are  childless.  Indeed,  it  is  possible  for  this 
disease  to  so  affect  the  life-giving  elements 
that  they  are  incapable  of  performing  their 
function. 

I  believe  every  boy  wishes  to  become  a 
strong,  well-developed,  successful  man.  No 
boy  ever  deliberately  planned  otherwise. 
There  are  careless  boys  and  thoughtless 
boys — boys  who  follow  courses  and  prac- 
tice habits  that  ultimately  must  defeat  suc- 
cess and  end  in  disappointment,  but  they 
always  do  so  through  carelessness  or  igno- 
rance— never  deliberately  planned  action.  If 
the  average  boy  desires  to  make  the  most 
of  his  life,  and  deliberately  plans  to  use  his 

71 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

time  and  opportunities  in  the  best  way,  he 
always  succeeds.  His  success  is  certain, 
although  it  may  not  be  along  the  lines  first 
planned,  as  he  may  develop  new  and  unex- 
pected talents.  Many  of  our  most  success- 
ful men  tried  many  avenues  before  they 
found  the  one  best  suited  to  them.  Many 
others  have  awakened  to  the  fact  that  they 
have  wasted  many  years  and  dissipated 
much  energy  before  they  planned  out  their 
life's  course.  Although  they  may  achieve 
great  success  they  always  feel  that  this  suc- 
cess might  have  been  greater  if  they  had 
not  wasted  so  many  precious  years  before 
finding  their  real  work. 

In  school  days  the  boy  is  led  by  the  wise 
teacher  to  see  the  right  way  of  gaining 
the  knowledge  he  needs.  But  there  is  a 
knowledge  of  the  structure  of  the  body,  of 
the  meaning  of  certain  desires,  of  the  func- 
tions of  their  organs,  the  necessity  for 
cleanliness,  the  results  of  abuse  and  the  dan- 
ger of  acquiring  certain  diseases  known  as 
the  black  plagues,  that  cannot  be  given  in 

72 


THE  BOY 

the  public  schools  by  the  teachers ;  that  can- 
not be  given  by  the  mothers,  for  the  boy  is 
inclined  to  think,  "  Oh,  you're  not  a  man, 
you  can't  understand  a  man."  Who,  then, 
is  to  give  this  knowledge  so  necessary  to  the 
boy's  welfare?  It  is  the  father's  duty  to  see 
that  the  boy  is  given  this  knowledge  and 
given  it  in  the  right  manner  and  early 
enough  to  forestall  wrong  ideas. 

The  directors  of  physical  education  among 
boys  and  young  men  should  assume  the 
role  of  universal  fathers  to  those  who  need 
this  help.  A  boy  will  give  up  many  bad 
habits  if  he  is  shown  that  they  have  a  tend- 
ency to  make  him  a  weakling  and  prevent 
his  physical  development. 

It  is  not  the  poor  boy  of  the  city  streets 
alone  that  is  most  in  need  of  this  knowl- 
edge. In  the  city,  various  organizations 
make  it  their  chief  business  to  look  after 
the  youth,  providing  healthful  amusements, 
good  companions  and  various  helpful  sug- 
gestions. The  country  boy  has  none  of 
these.  Very  little  effort  is  used  or  is 

73 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

thought  necessary  to  save  the  country  boys. 
But  the  tendency  of  the  country  is  city- 
ward and  generally  the  country  youth  be- 
comes the  city  youth.  Upon  the  training  he 
has  received  before  going  to  the  city,  upon 
the  ideals  he  cherishes,  depend  his  future 
actions.  "  I'd  have  done  better  if  I'd  known 
better,"  said  a  fine  specimen  of  redeemed 
young  manhood  as  he  recounted  some  of 
his  experience  to  the  city  minister,  "but  it 
wasn't  the  temptations  of  the  city  which 
proved  to  be  my  undoing.  I  was  lost  be- 
fore I  came  here — lost  to  virtue,  honor, 
truth — and  I  lost  these  attributes  on  the 
farm." 

No  one  can  come  in  contact  with  children 
and  young  people  without  feeling  the  need 
of  a  united  effort  on  the  part  of  parents, 
physicians  and  teachers  to  lessen  the  im- 
moral tendencies,  with  their  degrading  ef- 
fects, to  which  the  present  generation  is 
subjected.  Knowledge  of  the  right  sort 
will  prevent  many  nervous  wrecks  caused 
by  the  boy  reading  literature  sent  out  by 

74 


THE  BOY 

various  questionable  medical  houses  which 
instill  into  his  young  mind  a  fear  that  he 
unconsciously  is  drifting  into  a  dangerous 
condition  when  in  reality  nature  simply  is 
asserting  itself  and  there  is  no  cause  to 
worry. 

Many  parents  realize  the  need  of  giving 
such  instruction  but  hesitate  on  account  of 
ignorance  of  facts  or  of  the  best  manner 
of  presenting  such  sacred  subjects,  so  the 
instruction  is  postponed  from  day  to  day 
until  it  is  too  late.  Then  the  regrets. 

How  to  present  this  knowledge  to  the 
child  depends  upon  his  age,  environment 
and  circumstances.  With  the  very  young 
child,  who  lives  almost  entirely  in  a  world 
of  imagination,  the  poetical  fancies  often 
can  be  used  to  good  advantage.  But  when 
the  boy  has  reached  a  school  age  and  asso- 
ciates with  older  boys,  things  begin  to 
assume  more  natural  proportions  and  the 
world  takes  on  a  more  real  aspect.  Then 
it  is  the  boy  wants  more  material  explana- 
tions, demands  practical  truths.  A  man  can 

75 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

ill  afford  to  allow  vulgar  representations  of 
these  most  sacred  truths  to  be  given  to  his 
boy  by  his  companions,  but  he  may  rest 
assured  they  will  be  and  the  boy  will  listen 
unless  this  has  been  forestalled  by  knowl- 
edge given  by  a  wise  parent.  Fortunate  is 
the  boy  whose  father  is  a  companion  to 
him.  The  man  who  can  break  away  from 
his  business  cares,  become  his  boy's  chum, 
take  long  walks  with  him,  talking  about  the 
wonders  and  mysteries  of  nature,  gradually 
leading  up  to  nature's  method  of  repro- 
ducing her  kind  and  teaching  him  the  sacred- 
ness  of  the  human  body,  will  be  fully  repaid 
for  his  effort. 

Many  men  through  selfishness  or  igno- 
rance neglect  these  vital  talks  with  their 
sons.  In  many  instances  the  boy  grows  to 
manhood  with  only  a  distorted  view  of  the 
meaning  of  fatherhood  or  motherhood  un- 
less some  broad-minded  man  comes  in  con- 
tact with  his  life. 

The  majority  of  teachers  in  the  public 
schools  are  immature  girls  who  cannot  real- 

76 


THE  BOY 

ize  the  needs,  desires  and  temptations  of  an 
adolescent  boy.  At  this  age  the  boy  needs 
association  with  men.  No  community  is 
giving  its  boys  full  value  unless  it  provides 
on  the  school  faculty  some  well-poised  man 
who  understands  boys  and  who  can  and 
does  direct  their  physical  lives  so  as  to  de- 
velop strong  moral  characters  capable  of 
becoming  useful  citizens. 


77 


CHAPTER  IX 

A  WELL  DIRECTED  CHILDHOOD 

UPON  the  training  a  child  receives  dur- 
ing the  early  years  of  his  life,  upon 
the  ideals  engendered  during  that  period 
depends,  to  a  large  extent,  the  entire  course 
of  his  after  life. 

This  does  not  mean  that  he  is  to  be  neg- 
lected in  later  years  for,  until  he  has  reached 
manhood's  estate  and  especially  during  his 
adolescent  days,  he  needs  a  firm,  wise  coun- 
selor. A  boy  or  girl  who  has  been  rightly 
trained  up  to  the  age  of  twelve  or  fourteen 
very  seldom  will  go  far  astray.  By  that 
time,  his  habits  and  ideals  are  quite  firmly 
rooted  and  it  would  take  an  unusually 
strong  mind,  or  influence,  to  detach  them. 

The  training  of  a  child  should  commence 
the  moment  it  is  born.  It  is  possible  to  so 
"  spoil "  a  child  the  first  three  days  of  its 

78 


A  WELL  DIRECTED  CHILDHOOD 

life  that  there  will  be  no  peace  or  comfort 
in  the  home  unless  the  baby  is  coddled  and 
waited  upon  continually.  The  baby  tyrant 
soon  learns  if  father  is  to  be  his  slave.  He 
soon  learns  if  father's  rest  at  night  is  to  be 
undisturbed,  or  if  long  night  walks  are  to 
be  the  regular  program.  Judge  Mary  Bar- 
telme  of  the  Juvenile  Court  of  Chicago  says 
that  many  a  girl  or  boy  in  court  has  been 
brought  there  by  a  life  of  selfishness  and 
lack  of  self-control  engendered  by  over- 
indulgent  parents.  The  unwise  parent's 
idea  is  "How  can  I  get  it  for  my  child?" 
not  "  Should  he  have  it  ?  "  These  indulgent 
parents  do  not  realize  that  the  greatest  kind- 
ness to  a  child  is  to  train  him  in  habits  that 
will  make  his  life  a  success. 

A  baby  should  be  trained  from  birth  in 
habits  of  regularity  by  being  fed  and  bathed 
at  definite  periods.  Now  is  the  time,  also, 
to  establish  regular  habits  that  will  prevent 
in  later  years  that  bane  of  health, — con- 
stipation. 

If  the  unthinking  father  or  mother  wishes 

79 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

the  child  to  grow  up  to  be  a  drunkard  or  a 
drug  fiend,  now  is  the  time  to  commence 
that  course  by  giving  the  baby  soothing 
syrups  and  various  other  remedies  recom- 
mended by  the  well  meaning  neighbors,  or 
designing  advertiser.  Practically  all  sooth- 
ing syrups  contain  some  harmful  drug,  as 
opium  or  morphine.  If  they  do  not  contain 
these  they  contain  alcohol.  Look  out  for 
the  remedies  called  tinctures.  They  contain 
enough  alcohol  to  make  the  baby  drunk.  Of 
course  these  quiet  the  baby  and  cause  it  to 
sleep.  It  is  drunk!  An  over-dose  may  so 
soothe  it  that  it  never  will  awaken.  These 
babies  that  are  started  out  in  the  habit  of 
having  soothing  syrups  are  the  children 
that  later  are  continually  requiring  some  of 
the  patent  tonics  that  contain  alcohol.  They 
have  acquired  the  habit  and  crave  the  effect 
of  the  alcohol.  A  few  years  later  they  be- 
come the  habitues  of  the  harmless  drink 
counters.  Many  of  these  drinks  contain 
cocaine  or  other  harmful  drugs.  Later  these 
children,  grown  to  manhood,  feel  the  desire 

80 


A  WELL  DIRECTED  CHILDHOOD 

for  a  stronger  stimulant  and,  before  long, 
are  confirmed  drunkards  or  drug  users.  And 
the  mother  or  nurse  with  her  soother  is  to 
blame ! 

If  you  want  your  child  to  end  his  days 
in  the  insane  asylum,  or  become  a  degener- 
ate from  solitary  vice,  neglect  the  generative 
organs  when  he  is  small.  The  generative 
organs  of  both  the  boy  and  the  girl  have  a 
secretion  which,  if  allowed  to  remain,  acts 
as  an  irritant  to  the  parts.  It  is  as  necessary 
to  keep  these  parts  clean  as  it  is  to  keep  the 
nose  or  any  other  organ  free  from  dirt  and 
accumulated  secretions.  From  birth,  the 
foreskin  of  the  boy  should  be  retracted 
every  day  and  the  parts  thoroughly  cleansed. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  girl.  If  the  parts 
are  not  cleansed,  there  is  a  constant  irrita- 
tion which  causes  the  child  to  rub  the  parts, 
and  the  habit  of  self-abuse  is  started.  Make 
it  a  point  to  cleanse  these  parts  thoroughly 
every  day  and  as  soon  as  the  child  is  old 
enough  teach  him  to  do  it.  It  will  prevent 
many  disorders  in  later  life.  Perhaps  the 

81 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

boy,  or  girl,  needs  a  circumcision.  Have 
your  family  physician  examine  him  and  be 
sure. 

If  you  want  your  child  to  come  to  believe 
that  you  are  an  untruthful  or  an  unreliable 
person,  or  that  you  are  not  conversant  with 
the  things  that  you  should  know,  begin  to 
tell  him  falsehoods  and  evade  the  truth 
when  he  is  small.  When  your  child  of  four 
or  five  asks  you  where  the  baby  came  from, 
tell  him  some  fanciful  story  about  the  stork 
bringing  it  or  that  you  found  it  under  a  cab- 
bage leaf.  He  will  find  out  soon  that  you 
have  lied  to  him  and  will  not  bother  you 
with  other  questions. 

If  you  want  to  instill  into  your  child's 
mind  vulgar  ideas  about  the  most  sacred 
relations,  turn  him  away,  when  he  begins  to 
inquire,  by  saying,  "  Shame,  you  must  not 
talk  about  such  things." 

But  if  you  are  a  true  parent  and  want  to 
retain  the  confidence  of  your  child,  and  have 
him  learn  the  truthful  meaning  of  most 
intimate  and  sacred  relations,  tell  him  the 

82 


A  WELL  DIRECTED  CHILDHOOD 

truth  always.  When  the  -child  commences 
to  inquire  where  the  baby  came  from,  ex- 
plain about  the  flowers  and  the  birds  with 
their  nests.  Then  explain  that  baby  grew 
in  a  little  nest  right  under  mother's  heart, 
and  that  is  the  reason  why  mother  loves  her 
child  so  much.  Explain  the  necessity  of 
caring  for  any  mother  who  is  carrying  the 
baby  in  its  little  nest.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
go  into  details.  Children  are  satisfied  with 
very  simple  explanations,  but  they  must  be 
truthful.  If  mother  and  father  do  not 
always  tell  the  truth,  they  cannot  blame  the 
child  if  it  tells  a  falsehood. 

Before  the  child  enters  school  at  the  age 
of  six,  it  should  know  where  babies  come 
from,  and  the  dangers  of  self-abuse.  Other- 
wise it  will  be  instructed,  by  some  playmate, 
in  various  vices.  A  number  of  girls  have 
told  me  that  they  were  taught  the  habit  of 
self -abuse  when  they  were  only  four  or  five 
years  old. 

See  that  the  child's  clothing  is  not  so  tight 
as  to  irritate  the  delicate  organs.  See 

83 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

that  it  eats  only  plain,  nourishing  food.  Give 
it  a  moderate  amount  of  sweets  and  very 
little  meat.  A  limited  amount  of  pure, 
home-made  candy  is  good  for  a  child,  but  a 
small  quantity  of  cheap  stuff  is  harmful. 
Keep  the  child  interested  at  home  if  you  do 
not  want  him  to  get  the  habit  of  roaming 
the  streets.  The  long,  winter  evenings 
should  be  well  spent  in  reading  helpful  books 
or  in  quiet  amusements.  Let  the  children 
pop  corn  and  pull  candy  once  in  a  while.  It 
will  do  them  good  and  instill  a  love  of  home. 

Study  your  child  to  see  his  inclinations. 
Do  not  try  to  force  your  boy  to  follow  your 
occupation  or  to  take  up  some  profession 
that  makes  a  nice  appearance.  If  he  is 
inclined  to  mechanics,  put  him  in  a  shop  or 
in  a  technical  school  and  let  him  learn  to  be 
an  expert  in  the  line  for  which  he  is  adapted, 
instead  of  making  him  a  second-rate  lawyer 
or  a  second-rate  doctor  with  a  constant 
struggle  to  eke  out  a  bare  living. 

When  your  children  have  the  usual  chil- 
dren's diseases,  do  not  treat  them  as  a  mat- 

84 


A  WELL  DIRECTED  CHILDHOOD 

ter  of  little  importance.  Many  a  man  or 
woman  is  sterile  for  life  owing  to  a  neg- 
lected case  of  mumps  that  affected  the  testi- 
cles or  ovaries.  Many  a  person  owes  a 
chronic  inflammation  of  the  kidneys  to  an 
attack  of  the  measles  that  was  considered 
too  light  to  consult  a  doctor. 

When  your  daughter  is  at  the  age  of 
puberty,  see  that  she  rests  a  day  or  two  at 
her  menstrual  period.  It  even  would  be 
better  to  keep  her  out  of  school  for  a  year 
than  to  have  her  spend  the  remainder  of  her 
life  as  a  nervous  invalid,  which  condition 
often  results  from  strain  at  the  age  of 
puberty.  Watch  her  that  she  does  not  enter 
exciting  contests  that  cause  too  great  a 
strain  on  her  nervous  system.  She  needs 
exercise  but  it  should  always  be  of  a  light, 
nerve-quieting  kind,  as  walking  or  swim- 
ming. 

Take  an  interest  in  the  schools  your  chil- 
dren attend  and  see  that  they  are  suited  to 
your  child's  needs.  Do  not  have  your  boy 
learn  ideas  that  will  make  him  a  fop  and 

85 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

spoil  him  for  a  useful  life.  Do  not  have 
your  girl  placed  in  a  position  where  she 
ruins  herself  for  wifehood  and  motherhood 
in  order  to  keep  up  with  her  classes.  There 
is  too  much  of  a  tendency  in  the  public 
schools  to  require  the  same  amount  of  work 
from  all  children.  Only  harm  results  from 
such  a  course,  for  all  children  are  not  built 
nor  gifted  alike.  No  farmer  would  think 
of  training  a  race  horse  and  a  plow  horse 
in  the  same  manner.  There  is  as  much  dif- 
ference in  children  and  their  needs  as  there 
is  in  colts. 

We  have  given  more  attention  to  the  rais- 
ing of  colts  than  we  have  of  children.  The 
government  has  a  department  to  experiment 
and  produce  the  best  results  in  the  raising  of 
plants  and  animals.  It  provides  lectures  and 
instruction  to  teach  ordinary  people  how  to 
make  the  most  of  their  property, — their  ani- 
mals and  gardens.  We  need  a  department 
that  is  organized  to  teach  men  and  women 
how  to  care  for  themselves  and  produce  the 
best  quality  in  children.  Your  children  are 

86 


A  WELL  DIRECTED  CHILDHOOD 

more  important  than  your  stock,  your  farm 
or  your  business.  The  highest  creation  of 
God  is  man. 


87 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  COWORKERS 

T  T  IS  regrettable  that  the  schools  and  other 
•*•  organizations  apparently  should  be  in 
antagonistic  positions.  All  educational  or- 
ganizations are  working  for  the  same  ulti- 
mate outcome.  There  is  too  much  work  to 
be  done  to  waste  any  time,  or  energy  in 
back-biting,  fault-finding  and  unjust  or  un- 
kind criticism.  All  those  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  the  race  should  work  in  harmony. 
Although  we  all  agree  that  the  parents 
are  the  proper  persons  to  instruct  their  chil- 
dren in  these  subjects  pertaining  to  their 
physical  and  moral  welfare,  at  the  present 
time  all  parents  are  not  prepared  to  do  so. 
Others,  therefore,  must  come  to  their  assist- 
ance. The  schools  reach  and  help  many,  but 
there  is  much  work  to  be  done  by  others  be- 
sides teachers  and  parents. 

88 


THE  COWORKERS 

Oftentimes  an  outsider  understands  a 
child  even  better  than  do  the  parents.  It 
may  be  that  the  spiritual  adviser  has  a 
trained  and  keen  insight  into  human  char- 
acter and  human  needs  and  because  of  his 
position  may  give  advice  that  would  not  be 
received  kindly  from  any  one  else.  The 
clean  minded  servant  of  God  should  become 
a  deep  student  in  these  health  matters  so 
closely  concerned  with  the  spiritual  life  of 
both  children  and  parents.  He  should  lose 
no  opportunity  of  bringing  the  truths  to 
their  attention. 

The  teacher  in  the  Sunday  School  has  a 
similar  opportunity.  She  or  he  may  have 
the  rare  quality  of  inviting  confidence.  These 
teachers  should  be  chosen  carefully  by  the 
head  of  the  church  and  not  in  the  hit-or- 
miss  fashion  too  often  employed.  Training 
classes  for  teachers  should  be  on  the  weekly 
calendar  of  the  church  and  no  one  should  be 
entrusted  with  the  moral  and  spiritual  wel- 
fare of  a  child  until  he  has  proven  himself 
qualified.  Immature  youths  should  not  be 

89 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

selected  to  teach  those  of  the  opposite  sex. 
They  may  be  able  to  teach  the  words  of  the 
text,  but  seldom  will  be  capable  of  driving 
home  the  divine  lesson.  A  carefully  selected 
reference  library  for  teachers  should  be  pro- 
vided. This  library  should  contain  books 
on  the  care  and  rearing  of  children.  Quite 
frequently  moral  relapses  are  due  to  physical 
defects.  The  spiritual  and  physical  natures 
cannot  be  separated  entirely  and  the  teacher 
must  know  how  to  harmonize  one  with  the 
other. 

The  various  women's  organizations  should 
plan  classes  for  their  less  fortunate  sisters 
who  have  not  had  the  opportunity  of  learn- 
ing how  to  become  better  mothers.  The 
men's  organizations  might  well  concern 
themselves  with  the  welfare  of  their  sons, 
instead  of  setting  them  an  example  of  selfish 
indulgence.  Boys  and  girls  need  training 
for  fatherhood  and  motherhood  and  it  is 
the  fathers  and  mothers  of  this  generation 
who  should  plan  and  have  carried  out  such 
courses,  and  not  be  content  to  criticize  those 

90 


THE  COWORKERS 

who  are  trying  to  remedy  defects  caused  by 
the  neglect  of  parents.  Teachers  and  edu- 
cators are  striving  for  the  best  methods. 

The  newspapers  are  assisting  materially 
in  this  campaign  for  better  health,  while  the 
various  magazines  designed  especially  for 
women  were  among  the  pioneers  in  this  cru- 
sade. Nearly  every  one  of  these  has  its 
health  department  in  charge  of  a  woman 
physician,  who  not  only  writes  health  talks 
each  month  but  also  answers  many  personal 
letters  relating  to  individual  cases.  No  drugs 
are  prescribed,  but  the  best  advice  from 
a  hygienic  standpoint  is  given.  The 
"Mother's  Magazine"  is  making  a  special 
campaign  for  more  intelligent  parenthood. 
The  girls  of  this  generation  are  the  mothers 
of  the  next,  and  only  by  inculcating  right 
ideals  into  the  minds  of  the  growing  girls 
can  we  expect  to  have  mothers  prepared  to 
train  their  own  daughters.  A  great  many 
girls  who  have  made  mistakes  say  that  the 
cause  of  their  downfall  was  the  advice  and 
example  of  associates  leading  irregular  lives. 

91 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

These  girls  are  scattered  through  the  com- 
munity to  an  extent  hard  to  realize  by  people 
who  have  not  had  any  special  interest  in 
these  matters,  and  are  a  menace  to  the 
daughters  of  respectable,  hard-working  fam- 
ilies with  whom  they  come  in  contact.  If 
each  thinking  woman  would  make  it  a  point 
to  become  a  "big  sister"  to  some  lonesome 
or  misunderstood  girl,  we  would  not  have 
the  same  problems  confronting  us  that  we 
do  now.  If  at  the  same  time  every  right- 
minded  man  would  become  a  "  big  brother  " 
to  some  immature  youth,  we  would  not  need 
to  enlarge  our  courts  and  homes  for  delin- 
quent boys. 

The  athletic  directors  in  the  various  or- 
ganizations should  be  prepared  to  guide  the 
moral  development  which  is  so  closely  re- 
lated to  the  physical.  Many  a  boy  can  be 
reached  through  gymnasium  work  who  can- 
not be  interested  in  any  other  way.  It  has 
been  found  often  that  a  well-balanced,  ear- 
nest director  of  physical  education  has  more 
influence  than  anybody  else  in  persuading 

92 


THE  COWORKERS 

growing  boys  to  give  up  certain  practices, 
as  cigarette  smoking.  A  boy  will  give  up 
cigarettes  if  he  thinks  this  practice  will 
handicap  him  in  physical  sports.  For  the 
sake  of  a  boy's  moral  development  his  ath- 
letic sports  should  be  properly  supervised. 

Even  the  theatres  have  their  part  in  this 
great  work  for  race  and  individual  better- 
ment. There  are  many  people  who  have 
passed  beyond  the  school  age  and  who  never 
attend  church.  They  could  not  be  induced 
to  attend  a  scientific  lecture,  but  they  do 
flock  to  the  theatres.  It  is  possible  through 
the  theatres  to  reach  many  who  could  not  be 
reached  in  any  other  way.  Seldom  is  there 
heard  a  stronger  sermon  for  race  better- 
ment than  that  driven  home  in  Damaged 
Goods,  as  played  by  Richard  Bennett.  Here, 
indeed,  can  be  seen  the  lesson  of  the  greater 
love  that  might  mean  the  loss  of  a  little 
pleasure  but  would  save  years  of  misery. 

Physicians  would  seem  to  be  the  natural 
teachers  of  the  public  in  all  matters  concern- 
ing health.  But  this  subject,  health,  is 

93 


SEX  HYGIENE  IN  SCHOOLS 

so  great  that  it  is  impossible  for  any- 
one to  know  thoroughly  all  its  branches, 
so  this  has  come  to  be  an  age  of  special- 
ists. The  average  physician  cannot  spare 
the  time  to  become  a  public  educator. 
He  instructs  those  who  come  to  him,  but 
the  medical  associations  have  found  it  best 
to  send  out  physicians  who  have  been  edu- 
cated as  teachers  to  instruct  the  general  pub- 
lic through  lectures.  A  man  cannot  prepare 
himself  to  become  a  teacher  without  neglect- 
ing his  patients.  He  cannot  give  the  proper 
time  and  energy  to  the  sick,  and  at  the  same 
time  go  hither  and  thither  giving  lectures 
and  teaching  classes.  The  physicians  in 
smaller  communities  should  be  prepared  to 
tell  the  public  where  they  can  get  the  in- 
formation they  desire,  —  either  by  means  of 
lectures  or  books. 

Every  organization  should  be  making  a 
chapter  for  race  betterment.  No  one  society 
or  individual  can  reach  all  people.  It  re- 
quires many  pages  by  many  people  to  make 
a  complete  book  of  life. 

94 


PUBLISHER'S  NOTE 

You  can  obtain  further  help  in  solving 
the  problems  discussed  by  Dr.  Lowry  in 
this  work  from  the  books  by  the  same 
author  described  in  the  following  pages. 

Dr.  Lowry  is  famous  as  the  author  of 
the  only  books  on  sex  hygiene  which  have 
received  the  complete  endorsement  of  the 
leading  educational,  medical,  and  religious 
authorities,  who  declare  they  are  the  first 
books  to  meet  the  standards  and  require- 
ments of  the  present  great  world  movement 
for  sex  education. 

Many  colleges  and  normal  schools  are 
using  Dr.  Lowry's  books  for  text  pur- 
poses and  boards  of  education  have  adopted 
them  for  the  use  of  their  teachers. 

Dr.  Lowry  has  had  an  unusually  wide 
training  and  experience,  which  enables  her 
to  see  this  subject  from  more  than  one 
view  point.  She  taught  many  years  in  the 
public  schools;  she  is  a  graduate  nurse;  a 
practicing  physician,  and  medical  college 
lecturer. 


By  E.  B.  LO WRY,  M.D. 

CONFIDENCES 

Talks  With  a  Young  Girl  Concerning 
Herself 

A  book  explaining  the  origin  and  develop- 
ment of  life  in  language  intelligible  to  young 
girls.  The  author,  who  is  a  physician  of 
wide  experience  and  a  pleasing  writer,  has' 
very  delicately  and  adequately  treated  this 
important  subject. 

Carefully  written  and  should  be  given  to  erery 
young  girl. — American  Motherhood. 

A  sweet  and  wholesome  book  and  we  are  glad  to 
recommend  it. — Y.  W.  C.  A.  Monthly. 

Every  physician  should  read  and  circulate  this  book. 
— Journal  of  Therapeutics. 

It  will  prove  a  boon  to  all  mothers. — Woman 's  Era. 

The  reading  of  "  Confidences "  will  open  the  heart 
of  a  girl  as  sunshine  the  petals  of  a  rose. — Vegetarian 
Magazine. 

A  book  like  this  has  a  great  mission  before  it, — 
Health. 

Dr.  Lowry's  books  are  excellent  and  they  can  be 
safely  recommended. — Journal  of  the  American  Med- 
ical Association. 

Delicate  and  adequate. — -The  Christian  Guardian. 

The  author 's  tribute  to  motherhood  is  a  master- 
piece,— Chicago  Inter  Ocean. 

Neatly  bound  in  cloth.    16mo. 

Price,  50  cents  net;  by  mail,  55  cents 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers  and  the  publishers 

Forbes  &  Company,  443  S.  Dearborn  St.,  Chicago 


By  E.  B.  LOWRY,  M.D. 

TRUTHS 

Talks  With  a  Boy  Concerning 
Himself 

A  book  containing  the  simple  truths  of 
life  development  and  sex  which  should  be 
given  to  every  boy  approaching  manhood. 
His  future  welfare  demands  it.  This  is  the 
first  book  to  adequately  and  delicately  pre- 
sent these  truths  in  language  intelligible  to 
boys  from  ten  to  fourteen  years  of  age, 

" Truths"  is  the  first  satisfactory  book  on  the  sub- 
ject.— Health  Culture  Magazine. 

Straightforward  and  modest,  it  is  the  best  book  oa 
the  subject. — The  American  Friend. 

Many  a  mother  will  be  glad  that  such  a  book  is 
within  reach  of  her  child. — Seattle  Post  Intelligencer. 

We  wish  it  might  be  read  by  all  the  boys  in  the 
world. — Eclectic  Medical  Journal. 

The  knowledge  most  essential  to  a  growing  boy  is 
told  with  scientific  accuracy  and  in  such  a  careful 
manner  that  it  will  not  be  found  objectionable  by 
thinking  parents. — Life  and  Health. 

It  is  becoming  more  and  more  recognized  that  in- 
struction in  sexual  hygiene  is  a  necessary  part  of  the 
education  of  every  boy  and  girl,  and  this  book  helps 
to  solve  the  problems.  We  recommend  it  to  parents. 
— Chicago  Medical  Eecorder. 

Decorated  cover.    Cloth,  16mo. 

Price,  50  cents  net;  by  mail,  55  cents 

For  sale  by  all  "booksellers  and  the  publishers 

Forbes  &  Company,  443  S.  Dearborn  St.,  Chicago 


By  E.  B.  LO WRY,  M.D. 

HERSELF 

Talks  With  Women  Concerning 
Themselves 

This  book  contains  truths  vitally  impor- 
tant to  every  woman.  The  health  and  happi- 
ness of  mothers  and  their  children  depend 
upon  their  knowledge  of  the  facts  here 
given  with  great  clearness  and  conciseness 
by  a  physician  of  national  reputation  in  the 
scientific  care  of  women. 

"Herself"  is  superior  to  all  books  on  its  subject. 
— The  Independent. 

It  stands  alone  in  the  literature  of  the  subject  and 
I  am  losing  no  opportunity  to  commend  it. — The  Rev. 
Lyman  P.  Powell. 

Well  written,  skillful  and  conscientious. — Margaret 
E.  Sangster. 

A  book  the  world  has  long  needed. — Mrs.  W.  N. 
Hutt,  National  Chairman,  School  Hygiene,  General 
Federation  of  Women's  Clubs. 

A  very  excellent  book  that  will  save  many  from 
physical  and  mental  suffering. — Iowa  Medical  Journal. 

Should  be  recommended  by  physicians  to  all  their 
female  patients. — The  Lancet-Clinic. 

It  is  a  book  for  the  reading  of  which  almost  any 
woman  would  be  the  better  and  give  thanks. — Chicago 
Record-Herald. 

Illustrated.    Cloth,  12mo. 
Price,  $1.00  net;  by  mail,  $1.10 

For  sale  "by  all  booksellers  and  the  publishers 

Forbes  &  Company,  443  S.  Dearborn  St.,  Chicago 


Bj  E.  B.  LO WRY,  M.D. 

HIMSELF 

Talks  With  Men  Concerning 
Themselves 

This  is  regarded  by  all  authorities  as  the 
best  book  on  sexual  hygiene  for  men.  No 
man  knowing  its  contents  would  be  without 
this  important  book.  It  tells  plainly  all  of 
the  facts  about  sex  and  leads  to  health,  hap- 
piness and  success.  A  book  that  points  the 
way  to  strong  vitality  and  healthy  manhood. 

Every  man  ought  to  read  this  excellent,  reliable 
book.— Philadelphia  Telegraph. 

The  best  book  on  sexual  hygiene  for  men,  and  we 
highly  commend  it. — Baltimore  American. 

The  more  widely  this  splendid  book  is  read  the  bet- 
ter it  will  be  for  men  and  women. — Boston  Globe. 

Every  youth  and  man  who  can  read  English  should 
study  this  book. — Portland  Oregonian. 

A  rare  book  that  treats  its  subject  in  a  common- 
sense  fashion. — Pittsburgh  Post. 

This  is  a  storehouse  of  knowledge  that  should  be 
in  the  hands  of  every  man. — U.  S.  Medical  Journal. 

It  is  utterly  free  from  hysteria  and  sticks  straight 
to  the  unadulterated  truth.  A  valuable  addition  to 
any  man's  library .-—Sp okane  Chronicle. 

Illustrated.    Cloth,  ismo. 

Price,  $1.00  net;  by  mail.  $1.10 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers  and  the  publishers 

Forbes  &  Co.,  443  S.  Dearborn  St.,  Chicago 


By  E.  B.  LOWRY,  M.D. 

FALSE  MODESTY 

That  Protects  Vice  by  Ignorance 

The  most  thorough  and  convincing  ap- 
peal ever  made  for  the  proper  education  of 
the  young  in  matters  pertaining  to  sexual 
hygiene  by  the  foremost  writer  on  the  sub- 
ject. A  book  of  vital,  helpful  interest  to 
every  parent,  teacher,  physician  and  min- 
ister. 

All  parents  and  teachers  should  read  this  very  im- 
portant book. — Boston  Globe. 

Dr.  Lowry  covers  the  case  completely  and  in  such  a 
manner  that  all  can  understand. — Portland  Telegram. 

Dr.  Lowry  has  rendered  signal  service  to  perplexed 
and  anxious  parenthood. — Los  Angeles  Herald. 

An  eloquent,  effective  and  important  book,  it  de- 
serves the  same  high  praise  as  Dr.  Lowry's  other 
volumes. — Philadelphia  Evening  Telegraph. 

Will  take  a  place  of  deserved  prominence  in  the 
literature  devoted  to  the  elevation  of  the  race. — Chi- 
cago Journal. 

Dr.  Lowry's  books  combine  medical  knowledge, 
simplicity,  and  purity  in  an  unprecedented  way.  They 
are  chaste  and  void  of  offense  to  the  most  delicate 
natures.  The  volumes  are  written  with  scientific  ac- 
curacy and  clearness. — The  Journal  of  Education, 
Boston. 

Cloth,  i6mo. 

Price,  50  cents  net;  by  mail,  55  cents 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers  and  the  publishers 
Forbes  &  Co.,  443  S.  Dearborn  St.,  Chicago 


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